"Our entire approach to the issue of the Temple Mount is incorrect," argued Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, in a conversation with Prof. Aryeh Eldad and Ron Koffman on 103FM on Friday.
Kedar recently expressed an opinion calling to allow freedom of access for Muslims to the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and opposing a reported decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to restrict Israeli Arabs' access to the area during Ramadan based on age.
"We treat it as a kind of security situation, it's a wrong approach. Israel should have come and said 'The place is ours, the city is ours, this is the site of our Temple, you are welcome to come here but just take care that you don't make a mess,' whoever makes a mess we will kick him out, why? Because 'you are our guests'."
"The moment you say 'you are our guests,' those who say 'I don't want to be your guest' won't come," added Kedar. The scholar noted that many of the Muslims in the region believe it's forbidden to even visit Israel because it's under Jewish rule.
"[The Temple Mount] is not just under our rule, it's under our patronage, come, please, visit under our rule, under our sovereignty," continued Kedar. "Many will not come to not give us the pleasure of hosting them, and that's fine."
When asked about how Israel can implement restrictions on access to the Temple Mount or kick people out of the site considering the outrage sparked by such moves, Kedar noted that "there are countries that treat Islam much worse than we do, for example in Greece it is forbidden to build mosques."
"Wherever they have allowed uncontrolled immigration of Muslims, it comes with mosques, the fact that Europe is committing suicide does not mean that we commit suicide as well. The fact that they say what they say should not change our policy. With all due respect to all kinds of people in the world, they should worry about themselves before worrying about us. We should say this without shame."
Al-Aqsa near Mecca, not in Jerusalem
Kedar added that along with stressing that the Temple Mount belongs to Israel, it should also be stressed that according to Islamic sources, al-Aqsa is near Mecca, not in Jerusalem. "The whole story of al-Aqsa being in Jerusalem is a political story from the 7th century when the Banu Umayya (Umayyad dynasty) wanted there to be a pilgrimage to Jerusalem instead of Mecca."
Eldad questioned Kedar's support of allowing freedom of access to the site, noting that if some of those who do come end up stirring up unrest and prompting police to enter the site and remove them, it could spark further violence in the region. When Eldad asked if it wouldn't be better to restrict access and prevent the unrest in the first place, Kedar responded "What do you want to do? Close the entire place because you don't know who will cause trouble and who won't?"
Kedar added that there's no obligation for Muslims to go to al-Aqsa during Ramadan. "There are all kinds of innovations from outside the religious law that have entered the tradition, and if you tell them that then they will say that you are against Islam. Unfortunately, the official spokespeople of the State of Israel do not know how to speak, do not know what to say. They say 'We just want peace, peace, peace.' That's now how they should speak."