Israel’s Security Cabinet met Monday evening and decided to remove the metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, placing less obtrusive measures there following recommendations from security agencies. The move also came a few hours after the staff of Israel’s embassy in Jordan, including a security guard who fought off an attack on Monday, killing his attacker and another man, returned to Israel. The closeness of these two events led to speculation among some analysts of a connection.

Five members of a multi-denominational group attempting to fly to Israel to participate in activities meant to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Jewish State were prevented from boarding their aircraft in Washington DC on Monday. “Israel denied me the ability to travel there because of my work for justice for Palestinians, even though I’m Jewish and a rabbi,” Rabbi Alissa Wise of the anti-settlement group Jewish Voice for Peace said. “I’m heartbroken and outraged.”

The Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah announced on Monday that it had made progress in its battles with Sunni jihadist factions in and around the Wadi al-Kheil valley in Juroud Arsal, a barren area which has long served as an access point along the Lebanese-Syrian border. The battles have resulted in heavy casualties on all sides, according to reports from the field.

The situation on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist terror militia Hamas, remained tense on Tuesday following a long weekend which saw two rockets fired from inside the Strip at Israel and Israeli retaliatory fire at Hamas positions. No casualties have been reported on either side so far.

Avi Gabbay, the recently elected leader of the Zionist Union (Labor) faction in the Knesset, decided to go ahead with a demand for a vote of no-confidence in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, despite the security situation which had prompted Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid to call off his own plans for such a vote. Explaining at the faction’s meeting on Monday that Netanyahu “is not listening to the Shin Bet security service and other security officials, and therefore, more and more Israelis no longer trust him” Gabbay continued by saying “when the tension around us is at its peak, we must tell the truth to the public and not pretend.”

Regardless of its direct security merits, Israel’s decision to place metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount has been transformed by adversaries and Israel alike into an issue of sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Power-sharing there has always constituted a slippery slope to disaster. The murder of two Israeli policemen at the Temple Mount is an appropriate moment to rectify the situation by reasserting Israeli sovereignty over the holy site.

Rev. David Pileggi says that Jesus’ parables explain different facets of the Kingdom of Heaven: its King, its people & and community, its power, etc. The parable of the wheat and tares talks about the community of God and how it contains those who look like they belong but do not.