When pigs fly

For the third time in the last few days, a woman has been arrested for being on the Temple Mount and saying “Mohammed is a pig.” Authorities arrested these women shortly after they uttered these words on Har HaBayit. These words came in response to taunts of the “Morabiton,” (a gang of Muslim women who get paid by Islamist groups to disturb and harass Jews that visit the site) who were shouting “Allahu Akhbar” repeatedly at the group of Jews making their way to the Temple Mount.

The fact that these Arab women were screaming at Jewish worshipers was okay. The fact that on a daily basis on the Temple Mount, there are Muslim clerics calling for the death of the Jews. On a daily basis, Jews are referred to as pigs and monkeys. But none of those offenses are found to be offensive by authorities. What seems to rile up authorities is when a Jew calls Mohammed a pig. (NO, not advocating…am merely stating facts.)

Now, there would seem to be two possible reasons that these women were arrested, and each reason is seriously flawed. On the one hand, it may be seen as a provocation. After all, Muslims do not look kindly on Mohammed being associated with swine. If that is the case, how is calling Mohammed a name any worse than the DAILY provocations by Muslims on the Temple Mount? It is permitted to call the Jews pigs but not Mohammed?

The other possibility is that somehow Sharia law has crept into the rules governing the Temple Mount. “Blasphemy” is an act punishable by death in Islam. While the Muslims cannot enforce THAT penalty, the Israeli police seem to be acting on behalf of the Waqf and, at the bare minimum, are arresting these “perpetrators” that run counter to Sharia law.

Has Sharia law now become the benchmark of law on the Temple Mount? If indeed that is the case, we are in worse shape than I thought.