Israel Bans Academic Program Promoting Demolition of ‘Dome of the Rock’ Mosque

A general view shows part of Jerusalem's Old City and the Dome of the Rock December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A general view shows part of Jerusalem's Old City and the Dome of the Rock December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Israel Bans Academic Program Promoting Demolition of ‘Dome of the Rock’ Mosque

A general view shows part of Jerusalem's Old City and the Dome of the Rock December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A general view shows part of Jerusalem's Old City and the Dome of the Rock December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Israeli Education Ministry decided to remove the “Student for the Temple Mount” group from the academic program in Jewish schools.

The group include activists who support the establishment of the "Third Temple" (the Jewish Temple) on the ruins of Omar Mosque (Dome of the Rock in Al Aqsa Mosque)

The decision followed leaked information that the group is setting up a topic called "Knowing the Importance of the Temple Mount," which speaks of the Aqsa as the Temple Mount

The topic points out that the Dome of the Rock Mosque replaced the Jewish temple and must be rebuilt in its original place, which means an explicit call to demolish the mosque.

According to Israel’s Channel 10 TV report, the program is made by the far right-wing movement "Im Tirtzu.”

The report said that this movement is broadcasting to school students the controversial agenda of the Temple Mount and its activists.

The group is linked to the banned Kahane gang, which calls for the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their homeland and the cleansing of Israel of non-Jews.

Many organizations were established from this group, and they have carried out practical activities to spread despair among Palestinians to leave and carried out terror operations, during which Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem were burnt.

They also published maps of the Temple Mount, removing the Dome of the Rock’s picture from them and replacing it with the Jewish Temple.

In addition to that, a cannon was also seized on the roof of a house in Jerusalem, and its nozzle was pointed towards the Aqsa Mosque.

This group was banned from the Israeli law because of the seriousness of its racist rhetoric, but its activists knew how to continue their activity and promote their ideas in other contexts.



Lebanese President Says Hezbollah Disarmament Will Come through Dialogue Not ‘Force’ 

President Joseph Aoun in Baabda on Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)
President Joseph Aoun in Baabda on Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanese President Says Hezbollah Disarmament Will Come through Dialogue Not ‘Force’ 

President Joseph Aoun in Baabda on Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)
President Joseph Aoun in Baabda on Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon's president said Monday that the disarmament of the Hezbollah group will come through negotiations as part of a national defense strategy and not through “force.”

The Lebanese government has made a decision that “weapons will only be in the hands of the state,” but there are “discussions around how to implement this decision,” President Joseph Aoun said in an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.

Those discussions are in the form of a “bilateral dialogue” between the presidency and Hezbollah, he said.

Lebanon has been under pressure by the United States to speed up the disarmament of Hezbollah but there are fears within Lebanon that forcing the issue could lead to civil conflict.

“Civil peace is a red line for me,” Aoun said.

Aoun said the Lebanese army — of which he was formerly commander — is “doing its duty” in confiscating weapons and dismantling unauthorized military facilities in southern Lebanon, as outlined in the ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in late November, and sometimes in areas farther north.