Disproving 'Temple Mount Denial' One Bucket at a Time

 Daniel k. Eisenbud  October 6, 2017

Read full article at http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Disproving-Temple-Mount-denial-one-bucket-at-a-time-506539 

When Wakf bulldozers illegally ascended the Temple Mount in 1999 to surreptitiously remove thousands of tons of ancient soil to make way for a subterranean mosque, two archeologists found hope in recovering some of the Jewish heritage that crime destroyed.

As countless invaluable artifacts dating from the First Temple period at Judaism’s holiest site were dumped in a garbage heap in the capital’s Kidron Valley, Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira saw an opportunity.

Five years later, under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, the two archeologists procured a government license to have the ancient debris transferred to Emek Tzurim National Park on the western slope of Mount Scopus, where they established the headquarters of the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Today some 70% of the 400 truckloads of earth has been scrutinized by a staff of 15 employees and thousands of volunteers from around the globe, one bucket at a time.

OVER 200,000 volunteers from all facets of society, 

both Israelis and foreigners, have taken part in sifting 

earth from the Temple Mount. (Tommy Chamberlin)

Since then, more than 500,000 artifacts – from a 3,000-year-old seal from the time of King David to coins, stone vessels, jewelry and flooring tile fragments from the Second Temple period – have been painstakingly documented for future generations.

Nevertheless, to the outrage and utter befuddlement of millions, last October UNESCO approved a resolution denying Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.

“Temple denial started in the 1990s, even though the Islamic Wakf itself in the 1920s and ’30s issued booklets which were given to visitors of the Temple Mount in which they said the existence of the Temples is beyond any doubt,” said Barkay last month.

“It was accepted and in the Islamic literature through the generations there is a plethora of mentions of Solomon’s Temple and the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, so it is very strange that they deny it now.”

“The place was shown as the Temple Mount by Muslim guides to visitors all the time for centuries,” he continued. “The whole change came when a very naïve Bill Clinton wanted to solve all the problems of the world, and somebody whispered into his ear that the Temple Mount is the crux of the Middle East conflict, and he wanted to solve the conflict by solving the problem of sovereignty on the Temple Mount. “They claimed that Jerusalem has no significance to the Jews, and want to have sole control of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,” he said. “The whole thing is a political matter and misuse of ancient history for current political purposes.”

Noting the fact that the Bible, Mishna and Greek and Roman historians wrote in depth about the Temples’ existence, Barkay deems Temple denial “shameful” and “anti-civilized,” because “UNESCO’s decisions are politically based on majority and self-interests.

“If it would be in their interest to declare that the Earth is flat, they would have a majority vote [claiming so]. They can vote about anything they wish, but this is to the shame of that institution. No civilized person in the world can claim Temple denial or lack of a Jewish link to Jerusalem.

In the meantime, Barkay said proving Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem is akin to “proving that water is wet.”

Barkay noted that roughly 10% of the datable finds sifted were linked to the 400 years of the Davidic dynasty of the First Temple period.

“From the Second Temple period during the fourth century BCE we have a large amount of coins from the Persian period with Hebrew inscriptions with the name of the province of Judah, ‘Yehud,’ which is a name mentioned in the Book of Ezra in the Bible. And those tiny silver coins are the earliest discovered that were minted in Jerusalem.”

Nonetheless, Barkay contends that there is no need for Jewish evidence from the Temple Mount during antiquity, because it has been universally accepted by scholars and researchers for centuries.

Meanwhile, despite being in need of funding to keep the enterprise operational, the celebrated archeologist said the tens of thousands of volunteers of all ages from all corners of the world have become as invaluable to the project as the historic relics they sift through.