Israel: New Fanatics and Old

On March 10, 1983, Jerusalem police prevented four armed men from ascending the Temple Mount, the site where the Temple stood, sacred to Jews and Muslims. The four men, yeshivah students, had intended to perform a Passover sacrifice there.

The students were followers of Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. Police, after the incident, found in Rabbi Ariel’s apartment a cache of weapons, maps, and diagrams of the Temple Mount. The rabbi and 40 of his followers were arrested, but subsequently released.

There had been two previous assaults upon the Temple Mount since Israel conquered the Old City in 1967. In 1969 an Australian Christian tourist tried to set fire to the Aksa Mosque, and in 1982 an American Jewish immigrant killed several ...