Banning Christian and Jewish prayer

The world reacts with fury to any security-based Israeli restrictions on Muslim worshippers, but no one protests over the absolute ban of Jewish and Christians prayers on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Israel liberated Jerusalem in 1967, but handed exclusive control of this holy site to the Islamic Waqf, which permits only Muslims to pray where Solomon’s Temple and the Second Temple once stood. When I’ve led listeners on our Israel tours—we’re going again next April—Islamic authorities confiscated Christian hymnals and threatened visitors if they even looked like they were praying.

Rabbi Yehuda Glick, who fought for Jews, Christians and Muslims to pray side-by-side on the Temple Mount, was shot in October by a Palestinian militant. Any potential peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians must include the right of all faiths to pray peacefully in one of the most sacred spots on earth.