Aish HaTorah's 2009 Temple model freaks out Muslims today

The Al Aqsa Foundation has a major article, picked up by many other Arabic language media outlets, about a model of the Second Temple on the roof of the Aish HaTorah center opposite the Kotel in Jerusalem.

Occupation authorities officially opened a model view of the temple built on the roof of the Jewish school Aish HaTorah, located a few meters west of the Aqsa Mosque.

According to the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage, the roof can accommodate hundreds of visitors, in addition to a large model of a monument to the alleged structure, as well as a vantage point from which to see the al-Aqsa mosque and the Old City and the periphery.

The organization described this as a serious step against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, pointing out that the occupation aims to accelerate the pace of work and support to build the temple, at the expense of Al-Aqsa mosque, and that the model of the structure and binoculars off the Al-Aqsa Mosque (was in support pf the plan.)

It noted in a statement that tens of thousands of visitors, both foreign tourists and Israelis, are expected to visit this overlook every year, and will listening to explanations about the building of the alleged temple.

According to the organization this is a strategic location overlooking the yard near the Wall and the Al Aqsa Mosque...

The Al-Aqsa Foundation warned of the risk of this and similar projects that the occupation is using for quickly Judaizing.

The model has been there since August 2009.

As the Jerusalem Post wrote then (copied from the Aish site:)

Some 50 people gathered on Wednesday to watch the installation of a Second Temple model on the roof of a yet-unfinished Aish HaTorah building, across from the Western Wall and just a few hundred meters from where the real thing once stood.

With the Dome of the Rock and the Aksa Mosque standing conspicuously in the background, a crane lowered the 1.2-ton model onto the roof.

It took about a year for Michael Osanis, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who has built a number of other Temple models, including one in the Temple Institute, also in the capital's Jewish Quarter, to complete this model, which is made from gold, silver, wood and Jerusalem stone.

The model will sit on a new educational building for Aish HaTorah's short-term outreach programs, which is set to open in December. Aish, which provides a network of educational programs for Jews around the world, is also building a new "Explorium" - an interactive museum on Jewish history, which it expects will host 300,000 visitors annually after it opens in two years.

"What could be more appropriate than to have here, as people are standing looking out over our holiest place, the Temple Mount, a sense of what it was really like to have the Temple here?" asked Ephraim Shore, director of Aish's programs in Jerusalem.

Aish hopes that this model will help people to visualize the Temple and therefore forge a stronger connection with Judaism and Jewish history.

This is a pattern: the Al Aqsa Foundation puts out press releases that are often completely made up, they routinely get picked up by media throughout the Arab world, incitement spreads and no one bothers to check actual facts because, after all, facts aren't as important as propaganda and incitement.

The Arabic newspapers know this game very well, and they happily play their part.