Beyadenu has been leading the battle to maintain the Israeli identity at Judaism’s holiest site.
In response to the “Al Aqsa Flood” attack by Palestinian Hamas on Oct. 7, the Beyadenu organization began a petition earlier this month to which approximately 500 people pledged that they intended to ascend to the Temple Mount on Independence Day while displaying Israeli flags.
While it is not illegal to display Israeli flags at the site, the Israeli police actively prevent this, detaining anyone who does so .
Beyadenu also raised a large sign on the northbound Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, covering an area of 200 square meters, displaying the message, “On Independence Day, we raise the flag on the Temple Mount,” as part of a campaign to promote the initiative.
This initiative comes as Israeli support for the Temple Mount is at a historic peak. This Passover, a new record of ascendants was broken on the Mount, with over 4,000 people ascending, despite the limited number of days of the holiday compared to previous years. Some of the ascendants complained about the disrespectful treatment, as they were not allowed to even mutter prayer verses and were ordered to hurry and not to linger with explanations and stops on the Mount. Former MK Aryeh Eldad and Rabbi Aryeh Cohen were even detained by the police after refusing to comply with these illegal orders.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to endorse the project (at least in theory) in his Independence Day message when he called to “raise our flags and torches in honor of our nation.”
But it appeared that the police did not get the message. While Jews are prohibited from visiting the Temple Mount at night, on Tuesday morning, two Jews displayed Israeli flags, with one singing Hatikva (the hope), Israel’s national anthem. A young woman from the town of Otniel in Samaria hung a flag around her shoulders as she toured the Temple Mount. All were detained by police.
Tom Nisani, Executive Director of the Beyadenu organization, said, “It is moving to see Jews standing tall, with national pride.”
“From here, the photo will be seen all around the world, and the message will be heard well by all our enemies: Am Israel chai – the nation of Israel lives on. We are here to win! This is how we create deterrence, this is how we create victory, this is how we create national pride.”
He added, “The Israeli government needs to decide whether the Temple Mount is in our hands or the hands of the Waqf. The Temple Mount is not ex-territory. It is a national symbol to which millions of Jews have prayed to return to for thousands of years.”
Nisani added: “There is no legal or moral reason to arrest Jews who walk with the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount. On Independence Day we will all raise flags on the Temple Mount.”
Abe Truitt, the English-language spokesman for Beyadenu added, “Are we a nation that succumbs to the whim of Authoritarian regimes, or a Democracy? Today, the nation of Israel ascends to the Temple Mount carrying the flag of Israel. This action is not illegal, it is not provocation. It is standing up for our rights as Jewish people in a Democracy surrounded by terror.”
After the IDF conquered the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six-Day War, a paratrooper hung an Israeli flag on top of the Dome of the Rock. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan saw the flag through his binoculars and immediately ordered it to be taken down. He subsequently turned over the administration of Judaism’s holiest site and the location of the past and future Jewish temples to the Muslim Waqf.
