The Chief Military Rabbi, Brigadier General Rafi Peretz, has gone out against Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount, according to the Kippa website, which reported on a lecture Peretz had given to students pre-military academy he established in Atzmona, in southern Israel.
Peretz said that Muslim prayers at the shrine “has no religious significance for Islam, ” adding: “So what are they doing on the Temple Mount?”
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“The Koran doesn’t mention even once the word Jerusalem. Not even in a hint. The Arabs are imagining things. Ninety percent of them do not know what’s written in the Koran. There is something in the Koran which a commentator used the dream [of Muhammad ascending to the Temple Mount] to explain it, but it’s not [merely] a myth that’s been added on, ” the IDF Chief Rabbi taught his class.
Rabbi Peretz continued: “The only mosque which is associated with any measure of sanctity is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The rest of the compound has no religious significance [to Muslims]. What is the al-Aqsa Mosque? It’s written in the Koran: ‘Make me a sanctuary at the edge, ‘ (al-aqsa literally means the edge) but it talks about the edge of Mecca, of the Arabian Peninsula.
“When they bow down [in the Jerusalem compound], their back sides are turned to the Temple, because the real edge for them is the Arabian Peninsula. So what are they doing on the Temple Mount ?!”
Speaking about Israel’s unique place in the region, Rabbi Peretz said: “You can see the difference between us and other nations in the wars that take place all the time. You can see it in World War I and II, you can see it in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you can see it in Syria. The latter is a war that killed 250 thousand people a year and a half. This number of incredible. It’s a civil war. It is a manifestation of evil.”
“Because of the complexity and brutality of the population we face, our wars are taking much longer than we would have wanted, ” said Rabbi Peretz. “It is better to end the war quickly because we care about human life, we don’t want to hurt the innocent and we want to let them maintain their everyday routine. We do not want to force them all to their knees.”
