When tweeting about Jewish ties to the Temple Mount is ‘provocative’

Call it a Kafkaesque Hanukkah tale. David Friedman, the Jewish US ambassador, tweets about Hanukkah, a holiday over 2,000 years old that marks Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.

Almost like an actor in a well-known script, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, whose country has repeatedly disavowed Israelis ties to Jerusalem, tweeted in response that Friedman’s statement was “provocative.”

True, Friedman gave his message a political twist by stating that the United Nations can’t vote away the fact that “Jerusalem is the ancient and modern capital of Israel.”

But Coneney also represents an Irish Catholic country, so the Jewish biblical ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount could hardly come as a surprise.

Moreover, his country is one of 28 European Union member states that publicly warned the Palestinians at the UN on Friday that they must drop their UN bid to reference the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).

The EU spoke out just before the convening of the UN General Assembly, which approved six anti-Israel resolutions – including two that ignore Jewish ties to the most holy site in Judaism, the Temple Mount.

Traditionally, the EU has been harshly critical of Israeli activity over the pre-1967 lines, and its policies on that score have created tensions with Israel.

It has historically supported the annual passage of pro-Palestinian resolutions involving Jerusalem at the GA, where the Palestinian have an automatic majority. It did so on Friday as well.

Any future opposition to the resolutions, or even a decision to abstain, would mark a dramatic shift in its policy toward those texts.

Until now, the EU has not taken a united stand on a drive by both the Arab states and the Palestinians to subtly change UN language with regard to the Temple Mount, which is located in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City.

The main focus of that drive has been at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, where references to al-Haram al-Sharif were slowly inserted into texts.

The initiative culminated in a failed 2015 resolution by UNESCO’s Executive Board that sought to affirm that the Western Wall, referenced solely by its Muslim name of the Buraq Plaza, “is an integral part of al-Aksa Mosque/ al-Haram al-Sharif.” Subsequent resolutions the following year that were approved continued to speak solely of the Buraq Plaza and the al-Haram al-Sharif.

An intense diplomatic campaign by Israel and the United States, with the help of UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, neutralized that text.

This year, the Jerusalem resolution at UNESCO was fairly benign, and all references to al-Haram al-Sharif were included in an annex to the text that also spoke of the importance of the site to all three monotheistic religions.

The EU never took a common public position on that text, with some members opposing it and others supporting it.

Scant attention, however, was paid to the issue of the Jerusalem resolutions at the General Assembly, which in 2015 also began to refer to the Temple Mount site exclusively as al-Haram al-Sharif.

EU countries that opposed such a Muslim-only classification at UNESCO, often turned around and supported it at the GA.

On Friday, the EU said that it no longer intended to turn a blind eye to that language. Then on Monday, Pope Francis appeared to share their reservations when he issued a statement on Jerusalem after meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He spoke of the “importance of recognizing and preserving its identity and the universal value of the Holy City for the three Abrahamic religions.”

EU support is not needed for the Palestinians to continue to secure passage of the resolutions. But it’s backing is significant to the Palestinians from a public relations perspective.

Over 2,000 years ago Jewish warriors, known as the Maccabees, led a successful revolt against the Greeks, reclaiming their most scared site of worship on the Temple Mount. But when, as the story goes, they tried to relight the Temple’s menorah, the oil that should have lasted only one night burned for eight.

Israel at the United Nations is often like that candle. It has suddenly acquired the most unlikely of champions. The question is whether EU support is significant enough to sway the Palestinians to withdraw from their bid of a Muslim-only narrative on the Temple Mount.