Tisha B'Av 5760- Mourning and March to the Temple Mount

The Faithful Movement dressed in sack-cloth demonstrating on Tisha b'Av in front of the Western Gate of the Temple Mount and reading from the book of Lamentations. Behind them the security forces block the entrance to the Temple Mount - a sign of weakness under the pressure of the nations.

Tisha b'Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples, was observed on 10 August 2000. Both Temples were destroyed on the same day of the year. The First Temple was destroyed in 586BCE and rebuilt in 516BCE. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70CE and will, G-d willing, soon be rebuilt. For this purpose the members of The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement have dedicated their lives. All the activities of the Movement are directed to this goal.

In the morning, the Faithful Movement marched to the Temple Mount not only to mourn the destruction of the Temple but to struggle for its rebuilding. We called on everyone in Israel to join our march.

Many Israelis joined in the march of the Faithful. It was a very strong, exciting demonstration.

We marched with many Israeli flags to put them on the Temple Mount and to state that only the flag of G-d and Israel can fly over the Temple Mount.

Gershon Salomon called on the people of Israel not to allow an enemy “Palestinian” state to be established on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Gershon, dressed in sack-cloth, speaking on Tisha b'Av in front of the western gate of the Temple Mount in the Faithful Movement's demonstration calling on the people of Israel and the Israeli Government to purify the Temple Mount from the foreign pagan Arab presence and stop the destruction on the hill of G d and to immediately start the rebuilding of the Temple.

When the Book of Lamentations was read, the participants wore sack-cloth and ashes and tore their clothing as the Jewish forefathers did after the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Black flags were also held during those moments, mainly to warn the Israeli leadership against carrying out the plans which would bring Israel to a third destruction. Immediately afterwards only the Israeli flags were held up and the Israeli leadership was called on to be faithful to to the end-time prophetic plans for Israel, to immediately remove the enemies of G-d from the holy mountain of G-d and to rebuild the Temple. Only this could save Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza and all the people of Israel. The Word of G-d was read in the ears of all the Israelis (Exodus 34:24 and Haggai 1:2-11).

Gershon called on the people of Israel to fulfill the important commandment of G-d to Israel to remove the enemies from the holy Temple Mount and not to make an evil covenant with them (Exodus 34:12,13). He also called for the immediate rebuilding of the Temple and the fulfilling of G-d's expectations of Israel.

Then, in an exciting moment, all the crowd swore faithfulness to the holy hill of G-d and to Jerusalem (Psalm 137:5,6). After this many people marched to all the gates and around all the walls of the Temple Mount as if they were hugging the holy hill of G-d. In front of the Eastern Gate they prayed for the opening of the holy gate and the coming of Mashiach ben David in our lifetime. They prayed from Psalms 122 and 126.

This exciting event ended when all the participants stated: “We shall never move from here!”, and “I believe with perfect belief in the coming of the Mashiach and though he tarry yet shall I wait for him daily.” We know that this is G-d's timing for his coming. This depends on whether we are ready to open the door to his arrival. The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement will do everything to open this door and the G-d of Israel will be with us.

Delayed Anointing and Laying of the Cornerstone During Sukkoth

At the last moment the Israeli authorities decided that the anointing and laying of the cornerstone for the Third Temple could not be performed on 16 October 2000 as we had planned. We were allowed to congregate at the Western Wall Plaza of the Temple Mount. We called on the Israeli authorities not to fear Arab violence but to trust in the G-d of Israel and to allow the laying of the cornerstone for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount Faithful marching in one of the tunnels in front of the Temple Mount with the temple and Israeli flags.

In front of the Temple Mount we swore faithfulness to the G-d of Israel, to His Word, to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the land of Israel: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Psalm 137:5,6). Many friends from all over the world participated in this march.

We sang “Am Yisrael Chai!” (The People of Israel Live!) and prayed before the holy mountain of G-d from which the abomination will soon be removed. We swore to G-d in front of His holy mountain that very soon we would again bring the cornerstone to the Temple Mount and start the historical process of the rebuilding of His house.

More than this, we declared that the rebuilding of the Temple will bring a real peace to Israel and all the world. This event will help the nations to understand what G-d is doing with Israel at this time. We declared that no one, not even the devil himself can prevent the Almighty G-d of Israel from His determination to fulfill His end-time plans exactly as He promised.

The Hanukkah Event of the Temple Mount Faithful on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem and at the Tombs of the Maccabees

The Faithful lighting the Hanukkah menorah in front of the Western Wall and gate of the Temple Mount.

On 27 December, 2000, at a very critical time in the history of Israel, The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement marched from the tombs of the Maccabees in Modi'in to Biblical Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Many Israelis and visitors from outside Israel marched with them.

The march was held on the same day that President Clinton asked Prime Minister Barak to give him an answer regarding his proposals to give the Temple Mount, most of Biblical Jerusalem and 95% of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to the “Palestinian Authority”.

A godly answer was sent by the Temple Mount Faithful to Clinton and the terrorist Arafat, like the godly message which Nehemiah gave to the Arabs in his time. “Then I answered them, and said to them: The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build; but you have no portion, no right, no memorial, in Jerusalem.” (Nehemiah 2:20)

It was in the early morning when the Faithful stood in front of the tombs of the Maccabees in Modi'in, the place from where the Maccabees started their revolt. We embraced their spirit with a belief in the G-d of Israel and His miracles. We decided to take their spirit to the Temple Mount and spread it all over the land of Israel. We read the answer of Shimon the Maccabee to the foreign ruler who asked him to return to him the land which the Maccabees had liberated: “We did not liberate a foreign land but the land which G-d, the Creator of the World, gave to our forefathers and us in an eternal covenant and at one time was taken from us by you. Now G-d has given it back to us and you have no part in it.”

It was an exciting moment when we lit the Hanukkah menorah from the torch of the Maccabees and the youth started to run with the torch on the mountains to Beth Horon on the way to Jerusalem. We passed the tomb of the prophet Samuel. We prayed and asked G-d to again send King David to us to save Israel from all its enemies and to liberate the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the land of Israel exactly as He did in his day.

Later we came to Jerusalem and the Jaffa Gate. We put the flag of Israel in the middle of the Jaffa Gate plaza and the youth tore up the flag of the PLO. We called on then Prime Minister Barak to reject the evil suggestion of ex-President Clinton and to accept only the covenant of G-d and His Word to Israel. Then we marched through the narrow streets of the Old City to the Temple Mount singing and praying.

The climax of this important and exciting event was when we arrived at the Temple Mount, the holy hill of G-d. It was so sad to see the holy hill desecrated by the pagan, Arab Moslems who continue their presence on the holy hill. The gates of the Temple Mount were closed to the marchers, the torch and the menorah of the Maccabees.

The closed gates of the Temple Mount broke the hearts of the many Israelis who marched with such great hope. They started to run to the gates to open them. Unfortunately the Israeli Police prevented them from doing this. The marchers sat on the ground and put sackcloth on their bodies as in mourning.

We sat on the ground in this fashion for many hours calling on the Israeli Government to re-liberate the Temple Mount; to purify it; and to immediately rebuild His house on the Temple Mount. This godly event ended near evening with the exciting national anthem of Israel: Ha Tikvah — The Hope.

A Model of the Temple Brought to the Temple Mount During Pesach Pilgrimage of the Faithful Movement

The Faithful praying in front of the Mercy (Eastern) Gate of the Temple Mount during the Pesach event.

For the first time since its destruction, a model of the Temple was brought to the Temple Mount by The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. This happy event occurred during our Pesach pilgrimage on 10 April 2001. This replica of the Second Temple will serve as a model for the Third Temple.

This event was a message to the G-d of Israel that His end-time servants are ready to rebuild His house, with architectural plans continuing more intensely in the near future. It was also a clear message to the Arab enemies of Israel, and all the nations who support them, that pagan worship can no longer continue on the holy mountain of G-d and that they cannot prevent the G-d of Israel from redeeming His holy mountain according to His end-time plan.

It was a very exciting moment when the model was carried up to the Western Gate of the Temple Mount. It was the first time that many Israelis saw the Temple, despite the fact that it was only a model. However the testimony was very clear and everyone could feel the presence of the G-d of Israel. Men and women, the elderly and the young, started to pray or to sing Psalms around the model as if they were in the Temple itself. Suddenly the dreams, desires, hopes and prayers of almost 2,000 years started to be fulfilled. Everyone felt as if a great step towards the rebuilding of the Temple had taken place.

The priestly blessing in front of the Western Wall during Pesach with great excitement and desire to soon make it in the rebuilt temple where it should be done according to the Word of the G d of Israel.

The march and the pilgrimage of the Temple Mount Faithful Movement took place at a very critical time. The terrorists Yasser Arafat and his friend, the late Faisel Husseini, had warned the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, against opening the Temple Mount to Jewish pilgrims. It has remained closed to non-Muslims for the last six months. The last Jew to visit the Temple Mount was Ariel Sharon himself. During his election campaign, Mr. Sharon committed to open the Temple Mount to Jews and Christians. But, when the Temple Mount Faithful arrived, they found all the gates still closed, with hundreds of young Arabs demonstrating violently behind them. Mr. Sharon has not fulfilled a promise upon which he was elected. This is perceived as weakness by Arab terrorists, and it encourages them to continue the violence.

Later the Faithful and friends encircled the Temple Mount and marched through the streets of the Old City, blowing shofars exactly as Joshua ben Nun did 3,300 years ago at Jericho. We called on Ariel Sharon to immediately stop the Arab plunder of the remains of the First and Second Temples, and to preserve the remaining lower levels as a holy treasure for Israel. Upon reaching the Eastern Gate we again called on Ariel Sharon to open it to Israel as an important step in the redemption of the holy hill of G-d.

Many members of the Israeli and international media covered this important and exciting event and the godly message was spread all over the world to prepare everyone for the exciting and critical times that are ahead.

Jerusalem Day — The March to the Temple Mount
The Motive — We Shall Never Move From Here Again and Jerusalem Will Never Fall Again

Many thousand of Israelis marching in the streets of the city on Jerusalem Day celebrating the holiday and the great liberation of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.

On Monday 21 May 2001, the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, with its many supporters, marched to the Temple Mount, the holy hill of G-d, that was liberated from Israel's enemies thirty-four years ago in the Six Day War. In 1967, the Arab enemies of Israel surrounded her on all sides and declared that they were starting a war to destroy her and to push the Israeli nation into the Mediterranean Sea. They boasted that they would finally accomplish what they had not been able to accomplish in all the wars they had conducted against Israel since 1948. They were wrong. Again, they did not consider the main factor in their previous defeats — the undefeatable G-d of Israel who has determined to protect and save Israel from all of her enemies forever. G-d, leading His faithful Israeli soldiers (who were severely outnumbered), defeated His enemies in only six days. In six days, he brought Israel again to the Biblical land that he gave to their forefathers. The nation of Israel originally dwelt in this land — which included Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan, and the Sinai — but was later taken into exile by their enemies because of sin. Now, G-d has favored His people again and has returned the land to them exactly as He promised in prophecy.

Surely, this war was a huge event in the prophetic end-time process of the redemption of Israel. Israel was attacked unexpectedly by Egypt from the south, Jordan from the east, and Syria from the north. They were even attacked from the Mediterranean. With this “unprepared” and “small” Israeli army G-d did the same thing He did with Gideon and three hundred of his men. The climax of the war occurred after three days when G-d brought Israel back to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. G-d was moving mightily to fulfill His promises and to fulfill the dreams of hundreds of generations of His people to return to this place in order to rebuild His house and to worship and glorify Him there. The Israeli government sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan saying that if he did not attack Israel, then Israel would not take the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. However, G-d hardened his heart as He did Pharaoh's. Jordan attacked Israel in Jerusalem. G-d defeated King Hussein and Jordan and gave the Temple Mount and Jerusalem back to Israel.

The Temple Mount Faithful marched on Jerusalem Day from Ammunition Hill to the Temple Mount. We marched in the same areas where the soldiers fought their way to the Temple Mount in the Six Day War. We commemorated the more than two hundred Israeli soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem.

The Faithful demonstrating in front of Orient House. The sign reads - 'Never Again - Jerusalem will never again be divided. Stop the destruction on the Temple Mount.'

In front of Orient House, we protested the new violence and the deaths of more than seventy Israelis since they started their attacks several months earlier. We protested the existence of the so-called “Palestinian Authority” on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, and in the land of Israel. We demonstrated against the evil Oslo Agreement that planted this foreign enemy in the midst of the land of G-d. We called on the government to cancel the Oslo “covenant with death.”

We called on the Israeli Government to liberate the Temple Mount and all the parts of the land which were given away to the so-called “Palestinian” enemy; to immediately purify the hill of G-d from the foreign desecration; and to rebuild the house of G-d.

When the enemies in Orient House started to counter-demonstrate, we answered them with the words of Nehemiah as he spoke to the Arab enemy of his day. (Nehemiah 2:10,15-20).

The Faithful on their way to the Temple Mount dancing with the flags in the plaza at the Damascus Gate

From Orient House we marched to the other memorial stones for the soldiers who fell in this godly war. On the way to the Temple Mount we stopped at the cornerstone for the Third Temple that lies not far from the Temple Mount. We prayed that G-d would open the doors to us that we may soon lay it on the right place on the Temple Mount and start the building of the Third Temple. We celebrated the great event of the Six Day War all the way from the Damascus Gate through the Old City to the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount was closed to the many marchers and all Israelis on this day as it has been since the Arab violence started in September 2000. The Temple Mount Faithful Movement marched to the Temple Mount to encourage the Israeli Government to accept what G-d gave to Israel in the Six Day War. We called on everyone to understand that the destiny of Israel and all the world will be decided on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement will continue this march until this desire becomes a reality. This is the deepest desire of G-d and we shall continue to be His faithful messengers to fulfill it with all our devotion. Everyone is called to give their support and assistance to the Temple Mount Faithful Movement who are acting day and night to make this Word of G-d a present reality.