Unleashing the Beast

134 / U NLEASHING THE B EAST

Arabia, since Saudi Arabia is the home of Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities. This is said to be one reason bin Laden planned the attacks against America. It was a message of hatred for Americans going into Arabia during the war. Little is made of the fact that bin Laden, the son of a billionaire, had a $250 million inheritance from his father and that his family made much money by rebuilding roads and buildings after the Gulf War. Joseph Telushkin wrote in Jewish Literacy : Orthodox Jews pray three times a day for the Temple's restoration. During the centuries the Muslims controlled Palestine, two mosques were built on the site of the Jewish Temple. (This was no coincidence; it is a common Islamic custom to build mosques on the sites of other people's holy places.) Since any attempt to level these mosques would lead to an international Muslim holy war (jihad) against Israel, the Temple cannot be rebuilt in the foreseeable future. During the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israelis reunited the divided city of Jerusalem. For a brief time the Temple Mount was in the hands of the Israelis. An Israeli flag was hoisted above the Western Wall as Israelis danced below. Shortly thereafter, General Moshe Dayan gave the keys of the Temple Mount gates to the Islamic Waqk. Some Jews feared that Israel's control of the sacred mountain and the two mosques would ignite an all-out war