Tel Aviv: “Netanyahu government’s religious right-wing believes that US President Donald Trump has been sent by God to help rebuild Israel, destroy the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem,” said Israel’s former Interior Minister Uzi Baram.
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhrah),a beautiful open-air platform that now houses Al-Aqsa mosque, is one of the most famous Islamic site in Jerusalem. Few places are as holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif.
“Rabbis believe that God sent Trump to help rebuild Israel in order for it to be in accordance with God’s instructions,” Baram said.
“Jewish religious references and their political representatives in the Knesset and government believe that Trump will help in fulfilling Torah prophecies and fulfil the ideological religious visions of Gush Emunim,” former Israeli Minster said Haaretz.
Gush Emunim is the far-right movement responsible for the settlement project in the occupied West Bank. Although it no longer exists formally, the movement’s ideology is still influential in Israel.
The Dome of the Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by Abd al-Malik, one of the most important Umayyad caliphs, as a religious focal point for his supporters.
It is the Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish second temple, which the Roman Emperor Titus destroyed in 70 C.E. while subduing the Jewish revolt; a Roman temple was later built on the site. The Temple Mount was abandoned in Late Antiquity.
Muslims believe that the Rock commemorates the night journey of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). One night Angel Gabriel came to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) while he was sleeping near the Holy Kaaba in Makkah and took him to Al Masjid al-Aqsa (the farthest mosque) in Jerusalem. The Prophet (peace be upon him) started the Journey to heaven from the Rock.
Baram said that the current government’s religious right-wing is relying on the role of Trump to help destroy the Dome of the Rock Mosque. The religious right believes that the mosque’s presence is hindering the fulfillment of Jewish salvation represented by the construction of the Third Temple.