Has Israel ever considered destroying the Dome of the Rock?

by johnw1988
kieslowskifan

When Moshe Dayan authorized the use of heavy equipment in the capture of Jerusalem in 1967, his orders specifically instructed that care be used not to strike any of the major holy places of the city lest IDF actions complicate Israel's international situation. Soon after the city's capture Dayan toured the Temple Mount and Western Wall with Uzi Narkiss, the IDF commander who captured the city and Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the head of the IDF Rabbinate. Goren pushed both commanders to use the explosives at hand and destroy the Dome to prepare for the messianic age and the reconstruction of the temple. Goren had already blown his shofar at the Dome, signifying Jewish triumph and celebration and also laid claim to other holy sites in the city. The position of the IDF was more level-headed as destruction of the Dome would inflame Muslim opinion and diplomatically isolate Israel as the purposeful destruction of historical monuments is seldom condoned in international opinion.

Sources

Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New York: Rosetta, 2004.

Shlaim, Avi. The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.

Plane_money

As far as I know, it's never been an "official" strategy; however in one of the books I read back in the day there's an account of an Israeli general (I want to say Sharon but I'm not sure - my old college books are on a different continent from me right now Edit: that doesn't make any damn sense since Sharon would have been deep in the Sinai right then. No idea who it was.) turning to another and saying something along the lines of "If we ever want to destroy the Dome of the Rock, now's our chance" during the 1967 war when Israel took back East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But that was obviously nixed.

The point remains that if they really wanted to they could have at basically any time since 1967. It would be absurd to assume no one's ever thought of it, but if it ever came up "officially" cooler heads have obviously prevailed.

The book I'm thinking of is The Iron Wall, by Avi Shlaim