Red Heifers and the Fight for Al-Aqsa

One of the first things an experienced military strategist will tell you is, “Know your enemy.” It’s no secret that the Islamist terror organization, Hamas, harbors deep-seated hatred of Israel and is obsessed with destroying the Jewish state. It’s also a well-known fact that Hamas – and millions of Islamic zealots throughout the world – are motivated (and often incited) by their religious ideology and political aspirations.

But the questions must be asked: “How and where do they believe they can achieve their ultimate objective?” The answer to the former is “through war and conquest.” The answer to the latter is, “the city of Jerusalem.” Evidence of this can be clearly seen in the events of October 7 and in the months following the horrific massacre.

A very important, but under-reported fact related to the attack was that Hamas’ leaders chose to name their operation “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Al-Aqsa is the name of the Islamic gray-domed mosque located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Perched atop the southern retaining wall of the mount, it is far less known to most of the world in comparison to another Islamic structure on the holy mount – the iconic golden Dome of the Rock – which appears more prominently in panoramas of Jerusalem.