Yehuda Etzion

Yehuda Etzion (Hebrew: יהודה עציון‎‎; born 1951)[1] is an Israeli right-wing activist and the founder of Hai Vekayam, a group dedicated to allowing Jewish prayer on the temple mount.[2] He was a member of the Jewish Underground and participated in a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock, for which he was arrested and imprisoned in 1984 for acts of terrorism.[3][4]

Personal life

Etzion was born in 1951 in kibbutz Ein Tzurim.[5] His father, Abraham Mintz, was a member of Lehi.[1] He was a member of Bnei Akiva, and studied at Alon Shvut.[1][3] He was a founder of Gush Emunim and helped found Ofra where he now lives.[1]

Jewish Underground

Following the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty Etzion began to lose faith in the Israeli government.[1] Inspired by the deathbed request of his mentor Shabtai Ben-Dov, he hatched a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock.[3] He and co-conspirator Menachem Livni hoped that destroying the Dome of the Rock would trigger a war between Israel and her Arab neighbors, from which only Israel would emerge victorious. This would trigger the building of the third temple and a recreation of the kingdom of Israel.[1]

Current activities

Etzion founded Hai Vekayam, a group dedicated to allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount against Israeli Government restrictions and majority rabbinical opinion that Jews' entry to the site is forbidden.[2] On several occasions the group has organized civil disobedience wherein its members, wearing Jewish prayer shawls, attempt to ascend to the mount to pray.[6] He also organizes annual recreations of the paschal sacrifice the day before Passover in the Abu Tor neighborhood of Jerusalem.[6]

Etzion has published the collected writings of Shabtai Ben-Dov.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hiro, Dilip (1999). Sharing the Promised Land: A Tale of the Israelis and Palestinians. pp. 17–18.
  2. 1 2 Medad, Yisrael. "Jerusalem's Temple Mount: A Jewish-Muslim Flashpoint". Netiv online.
  3. 1 2 3 New, David S. Holy War: The Rise of Militant Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Fundamentalism.
  4. ↑ Shragai, Nadav (January 26, 2005). "Third Temple culture". haaretz.
  5. ↑ ירעם, נתניהו (September 29, 2006). "שליפות עם יהודה עציון".
  6. 1 2 Inbari, Motti. Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount: Who Will Build the Third Temple?. pp. 71–72.
  7. ↑ "יהודה עציון במשימת חייו". Arutz Sheva. February 19, 2007.


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