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Expert: Understanding Islamic Culture Is Key to Preventing Further Violence at Temple Mount
(JNS.org) Alex Traiman - The Israeli government reopened the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday with strict new security measures, in the wake of Friday's attack by Arab terrorists who killed two Israeli police officers. Israeli defense experts stress that such attacks are likely to occur again. Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, who served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence, noted that the Temple Mount has long been a source of radical Islamic incitement against Israel and the U.S. "There are hundreds of recordings of sermons from the Temple Mount, replete with violence, replete with incitement against the Jews, against Israel." In Muslim doctrine, Islam "cannot exist side by side" with another religion, and "within Islam there is only the concept of one religion being dominant over the other....Islam, as a religion, cannot accept a Jewish state. They view Judaism as a threat on Islam." While murderous acts are considered unholy by Jews and Westerners, acts of martyrdom can be considered holy in Islamic culture. Understanding Islamic culture is a key to preventing further violence. "They are violent, but if they face an iron wall, they will retreat - once they understand that they cannot defeat us," Kedar said. "The more determined Israel is in this regard, the better the chances that this round of violence will be short." For more than a decade, worshippers or tourists wishing to visit the adjacent Western Wall have been forced to pass through metal detectors, despite the fact that there have been no recently recorded incidents of Jews seeking to commit acts of terror at the site. Now these same measures are being installed on the Temple Mount.