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The Different Options for Administering Israel’s Holiest Sites
Italian operatic tenor Andrea Bocelli at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on June 9, 2022. Photo: Screenshot/TheKotel.org.
The Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — these are places of utmost importance to multiple religious groups, and they often give rise to bitter disputes and even acts of violence.
The question of how to effectively govern and manage such sites is of paramount practical significance. Until recently, no systematic models of governance for contested sacred sites have been proposed. This article describes a typology of five governance models in terms of their attributes, advantages, and disadvantages, so that decision-makers, scholars, religious figures, and other stakeholders can apply them as needed to different sacred sites.
Sacred sites are defined as “thick sites” — which means a site, typically but not necessarily religious, that is imbued with different and incompatible meanings by different agents. From these agents’ point of view, these meanings are highly significant and the sites are therefore irreplaceable.
Thick sites are not mere locations. They exist in specific public spaces and cannot be moved or replaced. This means that members of different religious groups all insist on conducting their activities in the same location, often simultaneously.
Unlike the Lockean-Madisonian solution, according to which religious practice is kept a private affair, thick sites contain different religious communities that each maintain their own place of worship within the site. These sites are thus focal points for intense inter-religious competition over ownership, governance, access, religious rights, and other aspects of control.
This raises the question of how to govern such sites effectively. What models of governance can promote social order and a measure of religious liberty at these sites?
The following is a brief, induction-based description of five main models for the effective governance and management of contested holy, or “thick,” sites:
The “Non-Intervention” Model: In this model, the state withdraws from religious or substantive management of the holy site, and does not finance the salaries of clerics, clergy, or religious personnel. The state focuses on providing services like security and cleaning. An example of this model is the management of “Devil’s Tower” in Wyoming, US, which is sacred to about 20 Native American tribes.
The “Divide and Separate” Model: Here, the government divides the thick site and separates competing groups, either spatially or temporally. This bureaucratic separation minimizes contact between rival groups, potentially cooling tensions, as contact between the groups is either minimized or banned completely. An example was the proposal (not ultimately accepted) to manage the Babri Masjid/Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya, India, which is embroiled in a dispute between Hindus and Muslims. This model also applies to the Cave of the Patriarchs.
The “Preference” Model: In this model, one group is given priority or advantages in certain aspects of site management over other groups. These advantages can include ownership rights, religious usage rights, and entry. The Western Wall illustrates this model, with Orthodox Judaism enjoying privileged status. Thus (to mention a few examples), the Rabbi of the Wall (a governmental position) is always Orthodox, space is allocated unequally between men and women with the advantage given to the men, and access to Torah scrolls is denied to women in their section of the Wall.
The “Status Quo” Model: This model “freezes” an existing situation — an allocation of ownership, usage, and entry rights to competing religious groups at a given thick site — at a specific point in time. That is, it locks in the status quo. While this ensures stability, it may not guarantee fairness, as the fairness of the allocation framework being maintained in perpetuity is not discussed at all. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is crucially important to multiple Christian groups, is an example of this model. At this church, the status quo from the days of Ottoman rule has been meticulously preserved throughout British, Jordanian and Israeli rule.
The “Closure” Model: This model involves a ban on entering or practicing religion at the site, either selectively or absolutely. The ban can apply to entrance, religious practice, or a combination and can be selective by group or by period. It is a strict tool that infringes on the religious freedom of observers of the restricted religion but can be justified in cases where there is a significant risk to public order, as is the case on the Temple Mount. At that site, Jews may enter but are not allowed to pray.
The suggested novel typology is rooted in field cases, and is a tool that can benefit both policymakers and academics. Researchers can use it to understand and analyze conflicts surrounding thick sites worldwide. Politicians can employ it to resolve these conflicts by considering various governance models, their pros and cons, and their suitability for specific cases.
This short paper is grounded in the joint research conducted by Nahshon Perez and Yuval Jobani, which was fully developed in the book Governing the Sacred: Political Toleration in Five Contested Sacred Sites (Oxford University Press, 2020). This research project was funded by an Israel Science Foundation grant (688/18).
Nahshon Perez, PhD, serves as a professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University. His academic interests encompass contemporary political theory, contested sacred sites, past injustices and reparations, and the intersection of religion and politics. His latest book is: Worldly Politics and Divine Institutions: Contemporary Entanglements of Faith and Government, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2023. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
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London Launches New Bus Route to Help Jews ‘Feel Safe’ When They Travel Amid Rampant Antisemitism
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
With antisemitic incidents surging in London, the British capital city has introduced a new bus route to help Jewish residents “feel safe” when they travel.
The newly launched 310 bus will run every 20 minutes from 7 am to 7 pm daily between Stamford Hill in Hackney and Golders Green in Barnet, areas with two of the biggest Jewish communities in London, according to British media reports.
Transport for London, a local government body overseeing much of the city’s transport network, will collect data on the new bus route’s use before deciding whether to make it permanent.
“Jewish Londoners have felt scared to leave their homes,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan told The Jewish Chronicle. “So, this direct bus link between these two significant communities means you can travel on the 310, not need to change, and be safe and feel safer. I hope that will lead to more Londoners from these communities using public transport safely.”
Khan expressed similar sentiments to BBC London.
“I was struck by the conversations I’ve had in recent months with the Jewish community,” he said. “They were frightened because of a massive increase of antisemitism since Oct. 7 of last year. I was told stories by families who, where they changed buses from Stamford Hill to Golders Green at Finsbury Park, they were frightened about the abuse they had received.”
London specifically and the United Kingdom more broadly have experienced a surge in antisemitic hate crimes following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) recorded 2,065 antisemitic hate crime incidents between October and July, with several hundred taking place in Barnet and Hackney.
Orthodox Jews in the Stamford Hill section of the city have been targeted disproportionately for being visibly Jewish, as shown in a spate of incidents reported by Shomrim, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group.
Such incidents included an Orthodox Jewish man being assaulted by a man riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, two attackers brutally mauling a Jewish woman, and a group of Jewish children being berated by a woman who screamed “I’ll kill all of you Jews. You are murderers!” A similar incident occurred when a man confronted a Jewish shopper and shouted, “You f—king Jew, I will kill you!”
The new bus route “connects communities, connects congregations” and would reassure Jewish Londoners they would be “safe when they travel between these two communities,” Khan told BBC London.
“We have heard stories of Jewish Londoners receiving verbal abuse,” he added. “We’ve also heard stories about Jewish Londoners not leaving their homes … because they’re worried about their safety. I don’t want any Londoner to be scared to leave their home because they’re worried about public transport.”
The mayor continued, “I think we’ve got to recognize the fear that Londoners feel who are Jewish; we’ve got to recognize the tremors of hate that are felt by Jewish people across the country. We’ve got to be good allies to our Jewish friends and neighbors.”
The London Jewish Forum and the Board of Deputies of British Jews both expressed support for the new bus route.
The mayor’s office said the effort was launched following requests from Jewish organizations that have campaigned for it for the past 16 years.
Beyond London, more antisemitic incidents occurred in the United Kingdom in 2023 than any year in the history of recording such data, according to a report issued by Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that offers security services and training to the country’s Jewish community. The group’s data showed a massive uptick in antisemitic incidents immediately after the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 that continued throughout the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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Pro-Hamas Activists Roil Columbia University, Recruit Members for ‘Armed Struggle’
Red paint symbolizing the spilling of blood poured on the Alma Mater sculpture at Columbia University. Photo: Screenshot/X
Columbia University’s most strident pro-Hamas organization distributed literature calling on students to join the terror group’s movement to destroy Israel during this year’s convocation ceremony last week, according to various reports on social media.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” says a pamphlet distributed by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet are explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist arm,” it says its purpose is to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
“We call upon the masses of our Arab and Islamic nations, its scholars, men, institutions, and active forces to come out in roaring crowds tomorrow,” it adds, referring to an event which took place in December. “We also renew our invitation to the free people and those with living consciences around the world to continue and escalate their global public movement, rejecting the occupation’s crimes, in solidarity with our people and their just cause and legitimate struggle.”
This latest exaltation of violence was followed by a disturbing act of vandalism on Columbia’s New York City campus. On Tuesday, a masked man poured red paint on the Alma Mater sculpture located in front of the Low Memorial Library, symbolizing the spilling of blood. A protest broke out elsewhere on campus, with a young woman, whose face was concealed with a keffiyeh, waving a sign cut into the shape of an inverted red triangle. It said, “Long live the intifada.”
First day of classes @Columbia. Welcome back. pic.twitter.com/1G3vv1eoQg
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students (@CUJewsIsraelis) September 3, 2024
The inverted red triangle has become a common symbol at pro-Hamas rallies. The Palestinian terrorist group, which rules Gaza, has used inverted red triangles in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “the red triangle is now used to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence.”
As seen in footage shared on social media, the protesters amassed in front of the Morningside Heights entrance to campus, chanting “there is only one solution intifada revolution” and imploring their classmates to skip school. The demonstration appears to have been part of a larger event staged by pro-Hamas activists in the city, and two students were reportedly arrested for being disorderly during it. They were part of a crowd that attempted to overrun barricades that law enforcement erected to contain them.
Columbia University has not responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment about these incidents.
Asaf Romirowsky, an expert on the Middle East and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday that it’s up to lawmakers to effect change at Columbia University and academia across the country.
“You would expect Columbia’s administration to learn from past mistakes and keep the situation from getting out of hand,” he said in a statement. “You would expect them to heed [New York City] Mayor Eric Adam’s wise advice and practice a zero-tolerance policy to those keen on disrupting university life and claiming university spaces as their own. But this is academia we’re talking about. They never learn, and certainly they haven’t learned when it comes to keeping Jews safe.”
He added, “Further, news, warnings from Director of Intelligence Avril Haines have now indicated direct if unspecified support for campus protesters. [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ayatollah [Ali] Khameini has praised the pro-Hamas protesters as a key part of the anti-Israel ‘resistance.’ Here too, it is unclear if the US government has taken any action. Only continued pressure will force academia to reform, which must include a rediscovery of the American values that have been dormant in the heart of the enterprise.”
This is not the first time that anti-Zionists at Columbia have endorsed Hamas, a terrorist organization which has murdered thousands of Israeli civilians and perpetrated rampant sex crimes against women and men. In May, Columbia’s SJP chapter described the group as “the only force materially fighting back against isr*el [sic].”
Wesleyan University’s SJP chapter also endorsed Hamas and its Oct. 7 massacre as its first act of the new academic year.
“On that day, fighters broke through the occupation walls, initiating a new chapter in the struggle against the US-Israeli war machine, and demanding the release of thousands of Palestinians unfairly imprisoned across their historic homeland,” the group said in a manifesto outlining their views.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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New York Times Brings Anti-Israel Bias to Campus Protest Preview
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
The New York Times is previewing the fall semester’s anti-Israel campus protests with the same anti-Israel spin it has brought to coverage of the war in Gaza.
The front page of the Sunday New York Times featured a story with the print headline “Colleges Target Gaza Protesters With New Rules.” Even the headline, framing it from the perspective of the protesters rather than the Jewish students, subtly expresses the tilt.
The online subheadline carries a similar slant: “University officials are spelling out strict codes around protests. They say they are trying to be clear. Others say they are trying to suppress speech.” Actually some of them say, at least privately, that they are trying to protect Jewish and Israeli students and the rest of the campus from antisemitic violence that has interfered with teaching and learning.
When the Times gets to that, it puts it in scare quotes: “disrupting the learning environment.” The framing of the whole article emphasizes the “approach to free speech” (no scare quotes from the Times there) aspect of the story rather than the antisemitism and disruptive violence aspect.
The Times article wasn’t even updated to reflect the situation accurately at the time of print publication.
My print, Sunday, Aug. 25 New York Times says, “A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction this month that said the University of California, Los Angeles, could not allow protesters to block Jewish students from campus facilities. (UCLA objected to the court telling it how to manage demonstrations. The court’s order, the university said, could ‘hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground.’)”
Online, the article was stealth-edited, without appending a print correction, so that it now reads: “(Although UCLA initially warned that the ruling threatened to ‘hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground,’ it decided not to appeal and said it would ‘abide by the injunction as this case makes its way through the courts.’)”
Even characterizing the ruling as telling UCLA “how to manage demonstrations” is tendentious. It’d be fair to say UCLA initially objected to the court telling it that Jewish and Israeli students needed to have full access to the campus, unimpeded by anti-Israel activists.
The “decided not to appeal” language is not even technically precise; as far as I can tell, what happened was that UCLA on Aug. 15 filed a notice of appeal, then subsequently, on Aug. 23, it filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the appeal. My Aug. 25 print Times did not reflect that Aug. 23 motion to dismiss, yet the Times handled it with an online stealth edit rather than a print correction that would reach print readers.
This all may seem arcane, but it reflects a sloppiness, one-sidedness, and lack of thoroughness that pervades the whole article.
The article says the Vanderbilt “Students for Justice in Palestine” branch “did not respond to an interview request,” but there is nothing in the article suggesting that the Times sought to interview the Jewish or Israeli students at Vanderbilt, or other community members whose education or work was disrupted by anti-Israel protests.
The Times article refers to “Palestine Legal, a civil rights group,” which is ridiculous, because Palestine Legal doesn’t seem interested in the civil rights of the Jewish or pro-Israel students. Why not describe it more accurately, as an anti-Israel group? Palestine Legal gets funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has also been funding a group providing paid fellowships to anti-Israel protesters.
The story mocks the chancellor of Vanderbilt, Daniel Diermeier, depicting students snoozing through his orientation talk. To many American Jews and others who care about campuses free of discriminatory disruptions, Diermeier is a hero, leading what appears to be the only known US institution of higher education to have had the courage to expel anti-Israel agitators. The Times news article doesn’t mention that.
I sent the Times reporter on the story, Alan Blinder, an email asking about some of these issues and got an out-of-the-office-on-vacation auto-reply message. It sure looks like whatever Times editor handled this piece was on a vacation, too, announced or not.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
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