Muslims destroy ancient artifacts to block Jewish visits to Temple Mount

Archaeological finds of great historical and cultural significance “are thrown into the field without any treatment, abandoned to terrorists on the mountain.”

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Early Sunday morning, Muslim vandals blocked the paths on the Temple Mount where Jewish visitors usually traverse with rocks, metal poles and ancient artifacts, some dating back to the Second Temple era some 2,000 years ago.

Police securing the holy site did not clear the paths after they were blocked, and the Jewish visitors who came to the holy site on Sunday and Monday, during the Passover holiday, were forced to take a different route.

Activists from the “Beyadenu – for the Temple Mount” organization reported that some of the materials used to block the paths included parts of ornamented columns that were apparently once used to adorn the Temple site.

Tom Nisani, CEO of Beyadenu, told TPS that “this is another disaster and the destruction of the Jewish heritage on the Temple Mount. Antiquities are thrown into the field without any treatment, abandoned to terrorists on the mountain.”

The Islamic Waqf, conducting illegal renovations on the Temple Mount, routinely and systematically dumps artifacts unearthed on the Temple Mount, some thousands of years old with paramount significance to archaeology, history, and the Jewish connection to the site.

In an attempt to salvage some of these findings, the Temple Mount Sifting Project was established in 2004 in response to the illegal removal of 5,210 tons of antiquities-rich earth from the Temple Mount by the Waqf.

About half a million artifacts have been pulled from the rubble so far, including 5,000 ancient coins.