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On 11 April 1982, American-Israeli reservist Alan Harry Goodman targeted the Dome of the Rock in a shooting, killing two Palestinians and wounding at least seven. [1]
On 11 April 1982, many Christian pilgrims were present in the Old City of Jerusalem to mark Easter Sunday, an important Christian festival. At 9:10 am that morning, a man dressed in Israeli military uniform entered the Temple Mount carrying an M16 rifle and a sleeping bag. When two guards attempted to stop him and tell him it was forbidden to carry a weapon inside, he opened fire. [2] He then ran to the Dome of the Rock and fired at the vistors until he ran out of ammunition. [3]
The perpetrator of the shooting was identified as Alan Harry Goodman, a 38-year old American-born reservist in the Israeli military. The Ministry of Interior stated that Goodman had registered as a temporary resident of Israel in 1977 and then as a permanent resident in 1980. [3] He had grown up in Baltimore in the United States, attending Baltimore City College as a teenager, and Case Western Reserve University later. [4] When he was arrested by Israeli border police, he claimed that "I had to do it. They are killing my friends and relatives. I am taking revenge." [2]
Later that day, as news of the shooting spread, demonstrations broke out in the West Bank, clashing with Israeli security forces. At least 30 of the protestors in Jerusalem were injured when Israeli forces dispersed the demonstration with tear gas and gunfire. [3]
Mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek condemned the shooting, and warned that there were "small, very extreme groups, who, by the atmosphere they create, will enable the world to identify the Jewish people – which is entirely opposed to this kind of thing — as bearing some responsibility." [5] Pope John Paul II described the shooting as a "rash gesture" and called for an end to the "clouds of concern which are thickening upon the land of Jesus and in the Middle East region." [6] The United States Department of State described the shooting as "obviously the work of a deranged individual." [3]
A United Nations Security Council debate was convened to debate "The Situation in The Occupied Arab Territories" following the shooting. In the debate, the Moroccan ambassador accused the Israeli government of "passivity if not collusion" with extremist groups within Israel. [7] Israeli Permanent Representative Yehuda Zvi Blum described the shooting as "an act of lunacy," but called the convening of the Security Council "bigotry of the highest degree" and that it had been convened to "fan the flames of religious hatred and incitement." [7] Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin condemned the attack as a "tragedy," and accused the Security Council of "attempting to place an entire nation in the dock on account of the crime of one, mentally-ill man." [8]
King Khalid of Saudi Arabia called for a general strike across Muslim-majority nations on 15 April to protest the shooting. Demonstrations and strike action that day were observed in 15 different countries, particularly within Saudi Arabia, and Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines suspended flights. [9]
The far-right Jewish Defense League pledged to provide legal assistance to Goodman. [10] Goodman would later be represented by lawyer Baruch Ben Yosef. [11]
The Jerusalem District Court ordered Goodman to undergo psychological evaluation to determine whether he was fit to stand trial. [12] Goodman would then plead insanity, saying that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. However, the insanity plea was rejected by the court. [13] During the trial investigations, Goodman stated that he had carried out the attack as revenge for the Coastal Road massacre, perpetrated by Fatah in 1978. [14]
In April 1983, Goodman was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years. [15] After hearing his convinction, Goodman shouted for "Arab Nazis" to be killed, saying "Three hundred Israeli atomic bombs kills Arab Nazism. Three hundred Israeli atomic bombs kills Arab racism." [16]
Goodman's sentence would later be reduced by Israeli president Chaim Herzog, and then again by Ezer Weizman, down to 24 years. [4] He was released from prison in October 1997 on parole on condition that he would return to the United States and not enter Israel again for the next eight years. [17]
Goodman's release provoked mixed reactions in Baltimore. In an interview with Dan Fesperman of The Baltimore Sun , Goodman claimed that he was not dangerous and that the shooting was one of the greatest moments of his life. [18] The Sun condemned Goodman's release, saying that it "gave the impression that the Netanyahu government takes Palestinian life lightly." [19] Robert Freedman of Baltimore Hebrew University reacted to the release by saying that Israel had exported "a convicted murderer who in no way has atoned for what he did," saying that the release was potentially in reaction to the release of several Palestinian prisoners following the failed assassination attempt of high-ranking Hamas figure Khaled Mashal. [4]
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city. Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognized internationally.
The Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif, al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or simply al-Aqsa, and sometimes as Jerusalem's holyesplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years, including in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel, is the main congregational mosque or prayer hall in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also named al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, but this name primarily applies to the whole compound in which the building sits, which is itself also known as "Al-Aqsa Mosque". The wider compound is known as Al-Aqsa or Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf.
The "Third Temple" refers to a hypothetical rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. It would succeed Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple, the former having been destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in c. 587 BCE and the latter having been destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70CE. The notion of and desire for the Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly in Orthodox Judaism. It would be the most sacred place of worship for Jews. The Hebrew Bible holds that Jewish prophets called for its construction prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic Age. The building of the Third Temple also plays a major role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology.
The Jewish Underground, or in abbreviated form, simply makhteret, was a radical right-wing fundamentalist organization considered terrorist by Israel, formed by prominent members of the Israeli political movement Gush Emunim that existed from 1979 to 1984. Two issues catalyzed the establishment of the underground: One was the signing of the Camp David Accords, which led to the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979, and which the movement, opposed to the peace process, wished to block, viewing it as the first step in the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. A second element was the settlement project, which, in bringing two distinct ethnic communities into closer proximity, led to an uptick in hostilities that brought about a growing emphasis on the existential threat in both communities. The Jewish Underground developed two operational objectives: One consisted of a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock, while the other branch concentrated on both avenging acts of Palestinian violence against settlers and of establishing a punitive deterrence. Some understood the terrorist acts as a means of inducing Palestinians to flee their homeland, based on the 1948 and 1967 experience, and parallels are drawn to the Terror Against Terror movement, which had a similar aim. Robert Friedman stated that the Makhteret was "the most violent anti-Arab terrorist organization since the birth of Israel".
The 1990 Temple Mount killings, or the Al Aqsa Massacre, also known as Black Monday, took place in the Al-Aqsa compound on the Temple Mount, Jerusalem at 10:30 am on Monday, October 8, 1990, before Zuhr prayer during the third year of the First Intifada. Following a decision by the Temple Mount Faithful to lay the cornerstone for the Temple, mass riots erupted, In the ensuing clashes, 17 Palestinians died, more than 150 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli security forces, and more than 20 Israeli civilians and police were wounded by Palestinians. United Nations Security Council Resolution 672, which was rejected by Israel, "condemned especially the acts of violence committed by the Israeli security forces" and United Nations Security Council Resolution 673 urged that Israel reconsider its refusal to allow United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar to carry out an investigation.
The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, also known as the Jerusalem Waqf, the Jordanian Waqf or simply the Waqf, is the Jordanian-appointed organization responsible for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which includes the Dome of the Rock. The Jerusalem Waqf is guided by a council composed of 18 members and headed by a director, all appointed by Jordan. The current director of the Waqf, since 2005, is Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib.
Judaization of Jerusalem is the view that Israel has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to enhance its Jewish character at the expense of its Muslim and Christian ones.
Temple denial is the claim that the successive Temples in Jerusalem either did not exist or they did exist but were not constructed on the site of the Temple Mount, a claim which has been advanced by Islamic political leaders, religious figures, intellectuals, and authors.
In 2009, clashes between Muslim Palestinians and Israeli police erupted on September 27, 2009, and continued to late October. Violence spread through East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, and included throwing of Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli security forces and civilians. Israeli police responded with arrests of rioters and sporadic age-based restriction of access to the Temple Mount. Several dozen rioters, police and Israeli civilians have been injured.
On 24 December 2009, three Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a vehicle near Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, killing an Israeli settler. The Imad Mughniyeh Group, a little-known affiliate of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Islamization of Jerusalem refers to the process through which Jerusalem and its Old City acquired an Islamic character and, eventually, a significant Muslim presence. The foundation for Jerusalem's Islamization was laid by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and began shortly after the city was besieged and captured in 638 CE by the Rashidun Caliphate under Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Rashidun caliph. The second wave of Islamization occurred after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Christian state that was established after the First Crusade, at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The eventual fall of the Crusader states by 1291 led to a period of almost-uninterrupted Muslim rule that lasted for seven centuries, and a dominant Islamic culture was consolidated in the region during the Ayyubid, Mamluk and early Ottoman periods. Beginning in the late Ottoman era, Jerusalem’s demographics turned increasingly multicultural, and regained a Jewish-majority character during the late-19th and early-20th centuries that had not been seen since the Roman period, which largely ended the Jewish presence in the region.
Yehudah Joshua Glick, alternatively spelled "Yehuda Glick", is an American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician, described as a "right-wing" or "far-right" activist. As the President of Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, he campaigns for expanding Jewish access to the Temple Mount. He was a member of the Knesset for Likud, having taken the place of former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in May 2016 until April 2019.
Bezalel Yoel Smotrich is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022. The leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, he previously served as a Knesset member for The Jewish Home and Yamina.
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Itamar Ben-Gvir is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of National Security since 2022. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit, a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won six seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election, and is part of what is widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.
On 14 July 2017, three Arab-Israeli men left the Temple Mount, and opened fire on Israeli border police officers stationed near the Gate of the Tribes which is close to the Lions' Gate. Two Israeli border police officers were killed and two more were injured in the attack. All three attackers were shot and killed by Israeli police after fleeing back into the complex.
The 2017 Temple Mount crisis was a period of violent tensions related to the Temple Mount, which began on 14 July 2017, after a shooting incident in the complex in which Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli police officers. Following the attack, Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at the entrance to the Mount in a step that caused large Palestinian protests and was severely criticized by Palestinian leaders, the Arab League, and other Muslim leaders, on the basis that it constituted a change in the "status quo" of the Temple Mount entry restrictions.
On 15 April 2022, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli Security Forces on the Al-Aqsa compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the clashes began when Palestinians threw stones, firecrackers, and other heavy objects at Israeli police officers. The policemen used tear gas shells, stun grenades and police batons against the Palestinians. Some Palestinians afterwards barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and proceeded to throw stones at the officers. In response, police raided the mosque, arresting those who had barricaded themselves inside. In addition, some damage was done to the mosque's structure.