Columnist: 'Shameful' That Leaders Made Arab-Israeli Conflict Religious

Robert Siegel talks to Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea about the recent synagogue attack in Jerusalem and its aftermath.

November 20, 2014 4:36 PM ET
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Ask people in Jerusalem what is different about the anxiety this week after a murderous assault on the synagogue, and they mention the question of the Temple Mount - to Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary. Muslims worship there. Jews, under Israeli policy, may visit, but not pray. Some Israelis have agitated to change that policy. Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the big daily paper Yedioth Ahronoth, wrote recently - and I'm quoting - "of the difficulty decision-makers encounter when it comes to understanding God's place in the lives of their subjects." I asked Barnea how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who's also called Abu Mazen, are handling that difficulty now.

NAHUM BARNEA: In a very bad way. Look, one of the basic rules in the Arab-Israeli conflict was that as long as it is a nationalistic - even ethnic - conflict, we can somehow control it. But when God enters the scene, we're in a different position. And the fact that so many - I would say - politicians and religious leaders on both sides, by fighting each other in the propaganda war, pushed to turn the conflict into a religious conflict - it was irresponsible and, I believe, shameful.

SIEGEL: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said even though there might be up a bill introduced in the Israeli parliament to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, it's not going to happen. It will not become law. But, as you say, go anywhere in the Middle East, talk to people from neighboring countries, and they are absolutely convinced that Israel is about to stake out a religious position on the - what Muslims consider the Noble Sanctuary.

BARNEA: Yeah, this is our tragedy. First of all, in the current situation, Arabs all over the Middle East and especially Palestinians believe in any bad news that they hear. So many lies pushed people to this terrible bloodshed, and people still don't believe in anything. And the other thing is that they say, look, members of Netanyahu's party are calling for a change in the status quo. Members of the government, the deputy minister of religion, called for change in the status quo. So why we should believe Netanyahu and not his colleagues? This is a problem.

http://www.npr.org/2014/11/20/365516347/columnist-shameful-that-leaders-made-arab-israeli-conflict-religious

6:01 audio at link.