For Clarity

In an earlier post, I insinuated that perhaps the motivation behind the plan to attack the Al Aqsa mosque by extremist Jewish elements was the desire "to establish the long yearned for third Temple on the Temple Mount." This is far too simplistic, and I think belies the political finesse of such an act. Besides, the unrelenting desire to rebuild the Temple plays more into Dispensationalist Christian eschatology than deep contemporary Jewish yearning.

We all understand what would occur should such an attack do damage of any significance at all. All hell would break loose. Every Muslim country would have a stake in retribution for such an attack, regardless of the fact that should it occur, it would have in spite of Israel's desperate attempts to prevent it. Israel would then be forced to react, retaliate, as if its very existence were at stake, which indeed it would be.

We all understand this, very much including the extremist element thought behind the planned attack. So, while destroying the Dome of the Rock would clear the way for the rebuilding of a third Temple, that's not the immediate goal. Not yet, anyway. That would have to come later, anyway, after the fallout from the resultant war had cleared.

What seems the much more likely, direct, and immediate result the extremists would be hoping to achieve would be the wider war we all fear. They would be forcing Israel to fish or cut bait, as it were. To fight a war of survival and in so doing to gather historic Judea and Samaria back inside the borders of Israel proper. By instigating violent reactions among neighboring countries, inviting military confrontation from Israel's many enemies, and escalating violence in the territories themselves, the settlers would find themselves literally on the front lines of a battle to end all battles. Which is just fine with them.

Just wanted to clarify.