The Islamic Supremacy Over Har HaBayit

Judaism’s holiest site is controlled by those who deny Jews the right to pray, while demanding full religious freedom elsewhere.

Can you imagine the reaction if Muslims in Britain were refused access to their mosques, not just barred from entering, but told they could not even pray quietly on the property? What if police officers were stationed outside, watching for anyone moving their lips or bowing their heads in prayer, and escorting them out for doing so?

It would spark national outrage, and rightly so.

Now consider this. On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, Jews are not allowed to pray. They may visit, but cannot recite a Psalm, whisper a prayer, or wear visible religious items. If they do, they are often removed by the police, acting under pressure from the Islamic Waqf, the Muslim religious authority that controls the site. Despite having a connection to this land that predates Islam by thousands of years, Jews are denied the most basic right to worship.

And this is not some secondary or symbolic site. The Temple Mount is the spiritual and historical heart of Judaism. It was the location of the First and Second Temples and has been the focus of Jewish prayer for over 3,000 years. Every synagogue in the world faces it. Every Jewish prayer service includes a longing for return. Yet Jews are forbidden to worship there.

In contrast, Muslims pray facing Mecca, not Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount, is Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina. And yet this third-ranking site enjoys more religious control and privilege than Judaism’s most sacred place. Al-Aqsa mosque was literally built on the Temple Mount site. Not next to it, not down the road, but ON it. Can you imagine a Christian church being built on top of the Kaaba in Mecca? Of course not. The idea would be unthinkable. Yet somehow, doing this to other places of worship is perfectly acceptable. 

What is even more striking is the historical record. The Hebrew Bible mentions dozens of towns, cities, and landmarks throughout the Land of Israel. Places like Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Shiloh, and Beersheba are not just religious symbols but actual, historically rooted locations. In contrast, the Quran does not mention Jerusalem by name even once. It does not name a single town or village in what is today Israel or Palestine. The word “Al-Aqsa” appears only once in the Quran, without any clear geographic reference. Despite this, Islamic claims are treated as more legitimate, while the Jewish connection, grounded in scripture, archaeology, and history, is constantly questioned or denied.

This arrangement is often justified as maintaining the “status quo,” but we should ask what kind of status quo denies the indigenous faith of the land the right to pray at its most sacred site, while granting full control to a religious authority that views Jewish presence as a threat.

If the roles were reversed, and a Jewish authority were banning Muslim prayer at their third-holiest site, it would be labeled religious apartheid, oppression, or Islamophobia. Yet when Jews are restricted, the world looks away or defends it in the name of stability.

This is not about equality. It is about gaslighting, control, manipulation, and a form of religious supremacy disguised as diplomacy.

Zooming out, consider that Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, makes up just 0.17 percent of the land in the Arab world. That is all. And yet this tiny fraction of land is treated as a threat, while the nations with the remaining 99.83 percent act as though they are the ones under siege.

When Jews defend their homeland or even assert the basic right to pray, they are accused of provocation. When violence follows, it is often blamed on Jewish presence alone, as if being there is an offense in itself.

At the same time, when atrocities are committed by Muslim regimes or groups, such as the genocide of Druze in Syria or mass killings in Nigeria and the Congo, there is silence. No international outcry, no protests in major Western cities, no hashtags. But when a Jew responds to terrorism, the world demands tribunals and lectures about restraint.

And let us not forget October 7. When Israeli civilians were slaughtered in unspeakable ways, thousands around the world celebrated. The very same people who now plead for compassion and tolerance were cheering death and destruction until it became politically inconvenient.

This is not a call to deny Muslims their rights. On the contrary, it is a call for consistency. It is a call to apply the same standards to everyone, regardless of faith. Tolerance cannot mean one side is expected to give way at every turn while the other never compromises.

Jews pray toward the Temple Mount because it is their spiritual home. They are not asking to take mosques away or to deny Muslims their space. They are simply asking for the same right to worship freely that every other religion demands and receives throughout the Western world.

If we are serious about pluralism, tolerance, and religious freedom, then those principles must include Jews. Not just in theory, but in practice. And especially on their holiest site.

Why is it that so many Muslims expect absolute tolerance everywhere, while often being the least willing to extend it themselves? This double standard serves no one, and it damages the very values many claim to uphold.

This is one of the many reasons I support Israel and its right to exist. Because in a region where minorities are routinely persecuted, Israel stands as a place where minority rights are defended, not destroyed.