‘2,000 Jordanian soldiers against 3 IDF soldiers’

Yehonatan Gottleib

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel tells Temple Mount visitors of his experiences in the IDF during liberation of Jerusalem in 1967.

Temple Mount

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, the Founder of the Temple Institute arrived Sunday morning at the Temple Mount and told the pilgrims about his experiences during the liberation of Jerusalem and the liberation of the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the Six Day War.

Rabbi Ariel, who was a reserve soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade and fought for the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, said that he saw the battle on the Temple Mount: “Here were cannons, mortars and piles of shells.”

He told of the soldiers who arrived at the Temple Mount for the first time 52 years ago, “followed by Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and the Nazir on a jeep of the Jordanian army that was here.”

“We saw the Israeli flag hoisted at the top of the Dome of the Rock,” testified Rabbi Ariel, “and then I saw about two thousand soldiers of the Jordanian Legion raising their hands against three or four IDF soldiers.”

Hundreds of Jews ascended the Temple Mount this morning to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem Sunday. The headquarters of the various Temple Mount organizations said that the police had fulfilled their obligation to allow Jews to ascend the Temple Mount and to remove the Arab rioters in order to allow Jews to ascend as per routine.

Police said that during the morning hours, “riots broke out on the Temple Mount, including stone throwing, throwing of chairs and various objects, following which the commander of the Jerusalem district, Major General Doron Yedid, ordered the police to enter the Temple Mount and deal with the rioters.”