The biggest problem the incitement presents for Israel is the huge Muslim public that is swept up in it and believes that these are Israel’s true intentions. I saw that a few years ago, when I published my book “The ‘Al-Aqsa is in Danger’ Libel: The History of a Lie.” I saw it again in passing conversations with east Jerusalem residents in the summer of 2014, and also in the current round of violence. […]

The fact that Israel prohibits Jews from praying on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, has no effect on the narrative, nor does the fact that for years Israel has taken care not to excavate beneath the Temple Mount. […]

This past year, Israel has taken two far-reaching steps to calm things down on the Mount. Both were intended to respond to the Al-Aqsa story, which has already become a direct cause of violence. The first move was a reaching a series of understandings with King Abdullah of Jordan and his people, which were put forth with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as a mediator. The understandings center around an Israeli clarification that it has no intent to change the status quo on the Mount and allow Jews to pray there.

Israel also agreed to put up a network of security cameras in the streets of the Temple Mount compound that will provide real-time 24/7 coverage of everything that happens there to both Jordan and Israel. At the same time, Israel drastically reduced the number of religious Jews who were allowed to go up on the Temple Mount at one time, and added restrictions to Jewish visits to the Mount.

The second step was to outlaw the Islamic Movement and its underlings: the Morbitun and Morbitat male and female guard groups. Members of these movements had been making Jewish visits to the Mount a nightmare, threatening the Jews verbally and physically.