TEMPLE MOUNT SHOWDOWN
Joel Rosenberg is reporting
http://www.joelrosenberg.com/

(WASHINGTON, D.C., AUGUST 3, 2006) -- The original press release that
was sent out by my publisher for The Copper Scroll was headlined:
"AUTHOR WARNS BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM, TEMPLE MOUNT COULD SPARK NEW WAR IN
MIDEAST, TERROR ATTACKS IN U.S."

Within days of sending out that release, however, an actual new war was
underway in the Middle East and in more than 70 media interviews in the
last three weeks, I've been trying to explain to people that this war --
at its core -- is a battle for control of Jerusalem and the Temple
Mount.

Now come reports that tensions are rapidly rising over the Temple Mount
in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports
that "the Islamic Movement warned Wednesday against the possibility that
Jewish groups would try to reach the Temple Mount on Thursday (The Ninth
of Av) and damage the Al Aqsa Mosque. The group's warning follows a
Supreme Court decision made earlier this week, ordering police to allow
whoever wants to visit the Temple Mount during regular visiting hours on
the Ninth of Av."

According to a Jerusalem Post story: "Citing intelligence alerts of
possible violence, Jerusalem police announced Wednesday that the Temple
Mount will be closed to non-Muslim visitors on Thursday, as the nation
marks Tisha Be'av and the destruction of the biblical Jewish temples."

Today marks Tisha B'Av -- the fast of the Ninth of Av -- which
commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples in
Jerusalem. The Babylonians (Iraqis) destroyed Jerusalem and the first
Temple on that date in 586 B.C. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the
Second Temple on that same date in 70 A.D.

But now a steadily growing Orthodox Jewish movement inside Israel wants
to build a Third Temple on the site of the first two. And both Jewish
and Christians Scriptures are clear that a Third Temple will be built in
"the last days." The problem is that site is currently occupied by the
Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, and is the third holiest site
in Islam. As one of the lines in The Copper Scroll says, any effort by
Jewish groups to build the Third Temple -- or attack the Muslims sites
-- "could unleash the wrath of a billion Muslims against the tiny State
of Israel and instantly obliterate any hope of peace." (p. 82)

Now several Islamic leaders have told Ha'aretz almost the exact same
thing: "Extremist Jewish groups may damage the Al Aqsa Mosque. If this
were to happen, heaven forbid, it would inflame the region."

Developing....