Temple Mount creates a standoff between Israeli Jews and Muslims

The increasingly violent assaults by Israeli Arabs on Israeli Jews has been portrayed in the global media as a consequence of Muslim fears that Israel plans to sieze Al-Haram al-Sharif (more commonly known as Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock) the third holiest site of Islamic pilgramidge.

This narrative has been reinforced by a campaign which questions whether King David built an altar to honour the Lord on Mount Moriah in about 960BC and fundamentally challenges the Judeo-Christian belief that Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22: 1-14).

The consequence for Israel has been a sustained effort to undermine the Jewish claim to sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. This media campaign arguably peaked with the October 8 New York Times (NYT) article on the Temple Mount standoff between Jews and Muslims.