{"id":309493,"date":"2025-05-30T07:04:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T07:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=309493"},"modified":"2025-06-01T07:59:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:59:44","slug":"smotrich-vows-to-rebuild-temple-during-jerusalem-day-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=309493","title":{"rendered":"Smotrich vows to ‘rebuild temple’ during Jerusalem Day celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middle East Eye \u2013 May 29, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Far-right\u00a0Israeli<\/a> Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the rebuilding of a Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque and for the expansion of Israel\u2019s borders and Jewish settlements in Gaza.<\/p>\n

In speech<\/a> addressing crowds at a Jerusalem Day rally on Monday, which celebrates Israel\u2019s occupation of the old city of Jerusalem, Smotrich also called for \u201ccomplete redemption\u201d and reconstruction of \u201cthe Temple here,\u201d referring to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which settlers had raided earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are conquering the Land of Israel, liberating Gaza, settling Gaza and defeating the enemy,\u201d Smotrich said to crowds that had chanted \u201cdeath to Arabs\u201d as they marched through Jerusalem\u2019s Old City and attacked Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith God\u2019s help, we will expand Israel\u2019s borders, bring about complete redemption, and rebuild the Temple here,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n

Smotrich also reiterated his calls for Jewish settlement in Gaza, declaring that \u201cIsrael is not afraid of the word occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are afraid of victory. We are not afraid of victory,\u201d he said. \u201cLets give strength to our brave and heroic fighters\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we afraid of victory?\u00a0Are we afraid of the word occupation?\u201d Smotrich demanded, to which the crowd responded with a resounding \u201cno\u201d.<\/p>\n

Smotrich has long advocated<\/a> for extending Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and across the Middle East as part of his vision of a \u201cGreater Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Smotrich vowed that \u201cGaza will be entirely destroyed\u201d<\/a> and its Palestinian population will \u201cleave in great numbers to third countries\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also declared that Israel would \u201capply sovereignty\u201d in the occupied West Bank before the next Israeli general elections in October 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed,\u201d Smotrich said. \u201cIn another six months, Hamas won\u2019t exist as a functioning entity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rebuilding of the temple would require the demolition of the Al Aqsa Mosque, which sits on the same site. Given that the Al Aqsa Mosque is considered the third holiest site in Islam, its demolition would ignite a storm among Muslims worldwide. Is this what Smotrich wants?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies","category-Predictions_from_the_past_or_for_the_future"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=309493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309496,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309493\/revisions\/309496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=309493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=309493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=309493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}