It is instructive to remember as Israel marks Tisha B’Av and the fall of the First and Second Temples that Hamas titled its Oct. 7, 2023 invasion “Al-Aqsa Flood” with the ultimate aim of seizing control of the Temple Mount and destroying the Jewish state.

The modern State of Israel is often referred to colloquially as the “Third House,” a reference to the two previous eras of Israeli sovereignty when the First Temple and the Second Temple stood in Jerusalem.

For Hamas and other Islamists, Israel’s “Third House” is an abomination that cannot be tolerated, and which certainly must not be allowed to solidify itself with the eventual building of a Third Temple.

And so Hamas justified its savage actions on that fateful Shabbat morning by pointing to “Israeli Judaization plans for the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque [Temple Mount] and the intensification of the Israeli settlers’ incursions into the holy mosque.”

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3)

Jerusalem and the Temple Mount at its heart have always been the focal point for the enemies of Israel, and it is no different in this war. They know that if the Temple falls (metaphorically, for now), Israel falls.

And so Tisha B’Av is today more relevant than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years.

The continuation of the above passage is also quite representative of what we are seeing today:

“In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:6)

Israel in the past year rose up in way it had not in previous wars, striking enemies on all sides, both near and far, and all but destroying the so-called “Axis of Resistance.”

And things are only going to escalate:

“In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:8-9)

And then we reach the climax:

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

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