Waqf Using Site of Jewish Temple as Garbage Dump

Sep 11, 2020

—

A video shows an Arab worker for the Waqf (Muslim religious authority) unloading the refuse from a street-cleaning vehicle onto an area where the women’s section of the Temple once stood.

Michael Miller, a tour guide at the site and an activist of the Students for the Temple Mount movement, was on the Temple Mount on Thursday morning when he was shocked to see the vehicle unloading its refuse.

“While I was praying on the Eastern side of Har Habayit (the Temple Mount), one of the Waqf employees, literally in front of my eyes, decided to bring this street sweeper and dump dirt/garbage, where the woman’s courtyard of the Beit Hamikdash (Jewish Temple) once stood,” Miller told Israel365 News. “I felt dead inside, helpless, angry, waiting to burst into tears of how much the nation of Israel as a whole just doesn’t care about its holiest site and allows them to do this.”

Posted by Michael Miller on Thursday, September 10, 2020

Miller noted that cleaning the pathways was regular maintenance so it could be assumed that dumping of refuse most probably occurs frequently. He also noted that as per security requirements, he was accompanied by an Israeli policeman who also witnessed the dumping.

“The police are there to ensure my safety and to enforce the restrictions on the behavior of the Jews who ascend to the Temple Mount,” Miller said. “They do not enforce the law regarding the actions of the Muslims on the Temple Mount.”

In fact, a similar incident was filmed in 2019 but since Jewish access to the Temple Mount is limited, it is impossible to determine the extent of any damage or desecration taking place. This also comes a few weeks after the Waqf filled in with concrete a Second Temple tunnel that was revealed on the Temple Mount.

Israel in the News

DNA