Israel should grant Jews the right to pray on the Temple Mount

(JNS) — A fundamental constitutional right in the United States, embodied in its first amendment, is the freedom of religion. Freedom of prayer is clearly part of freedom of religion. Part of freedom of prayer is the freedom to pray in public spaces. Anyone opposing the right of Jewish prayer, therefore, would be deemed antisemitic in America.

This brings us to Israel. Before the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, I helped organize the first Jewish afternoon prayer service there, with no concern that it would spark any kind of controversy. In a way, I was right; I found out later that a...