Does Israel Set a Date for Slaughtering the Red Cows on Eid al-Fitr?

A lot of talk and analysis is circulating now about the blessed month of Ramadan, which has made Israel’s fear of its events and effects evident in the recent decisions of the Netanyahu government. These decisions include withdrawing the authority to manage the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Minister of Public Security, the extremist Itamar Ben Gvir, and announcing restrictions on the entry of Palestinians – referring to residents of the West Bank by Israel – into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan. Then, there’s the announcement of no restrictions on the residents of Jerusalem and areas exclusively within the Green Line. Finally, the Israeli Minister of Heritage, the extremist Amir Ohana, demands the “eradication” of Ramadan and getting rid of the “annual terror” it causes Israel, confirming Israel’s real fear of the month of Ramadan with this statement.

This fear of Ramadan is based on a real foundation. Amidst the grinding war conditions, famine, and massacres committed by Israel in Gaza for the past five months, popular resentment in the West Bank and Jerusalem has escalated, manifested in several painful armed operations against the occupation and its settlers. This comes as the month of Ramadan begins, coinciding with the middle of the year and the first Jewish religious season since the Feast of the Throne, which started with the Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood in its last days, making it the first challenge for all parties:

• The Palestinian wants to reaffirm the deterrence equation that has been established over the past years, especially in 2021, leading up to the (Al-Aqsa Flood) battle launched by the Palestinian factions in the name of Al-Aqsa Mosque on October 7th.
• The Israeli sees that failure in this challenge means recognizing the victory of the deterrence that the Palestinian factions have been seeking since the beginning of the current battle.

This religious season, which falls in the middle of the blessed month of Ramadan, the Passover holiday, will necessarily reflect on the subsequent Jewish religious season, the Passover holiday, which will begin two weeks after the end of Ramadan. This season is the most important in this period because extremist temple groups will try their hardest to perform the rituals of sacrificing red cows at the Al-Aqsa Mosque this year more than in previous years.

But there’s a new variable that has emerged on the scene in the past few days, which may lead to increased tension or perhaps complete upheaval in the holy city and the Palestinian arena as a whole. The story of the red heifers has resurfaced once again after it became apparent that extremist temple groups are making moves to perform the purification rituals involving the sacrifice of red heifers. These preparations are happening quietly and without media hype, in the same way, these groups have been accustomed to in the period following the Battle of the Sword of Jerusalem in 2021.

I have previously discussed the idea of the red heifer and the divine signal fever among the extremist right-wing groups in Israel, following the announcement by Israeli Channel 12, two and a half months before the start of the current war, of the import of five genetically engineered red cows from Texas, USA, to a secret farm in the occupied territories. This was in preparation for their sacrifice and burning, and using their ashes for purification of the Jews, thus allowing them free access to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and cancelling the fatwa prohibiting Jews from entering the mosque, as adopted by the Chief Rabbinate of the occupation state, due to the impurity of the dead that prevents Jews from entering the place according to Jewish belief.

The five heifers reached the age of two in January of this year, and although the Talmud mentions that the heifer must be in its third year to be suitable for slaughter and the rituals, the interpretation by the rabbis of the temple groups came on the basis that it must have entered its third year of age, not necessarily completed it. Thus, it is assumed that it must have completed the second year and entered the third year, and there is no problem with its age after that if the process is delayed.

Based on this, the time for the sacrifice of the red heifer has come starting this year, and the rituals can be performed at any time starting from the end of January of the previous year.

But the new aspect to be noted this time is that according to Jewish law, the red heifer must be sacrificed on a specific day of the year, not at any time during the year. Upon examining the unnatural movements being made by extremist temple groups, it became apparent that the date recorded in the Talmud, on which these groups seek to carry out the slaughter, burning, and purification rituals, is the second day of April in the Hebrew calendar.

This year, this date will fall on the tenth day of April, which, surprisingly, will likely coincide with the Muslim Eid al-Fitr. This shifts the confrontation in this matter to a completely new level.

The reason for designating the second day of April in the Hebrew calendar as the date for performing the purification operation by slaughtering red heifers according to Talmudic law is that Moses, peace be upon him – according to the Talmud – slaughtered the first red heifer in Jewish history on that day. Red heifers were then slaughtered only eight more times on the same date, a total of nine times, with the last one being during the era of the so-called “Second Temple” two thousand years ago. This time will mark the tenth occurrence throughout Jewish history.

A considerable number of rabbis associate the appearance of the tenth red heifer with the appearance of the Messiah and the construction of the temple for the third time. This operation is heavily relied upon by the religious Zionist movement to attract a large number of devout Jews who do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque due to a fatwa issued by the Chief Rabbinate of the occupation state, prohibiting them from entering the mosque due to impurity, including the extremist Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance.

Followers of this movement hope to see a larger number of these religious individuals participating in the process of slaughtering the currently produced red heifers as a divine sign of the possibility of ascending to the “Temple Mount” and preparing to take control of it with large numbers to carry out the operation they anticipate, which is the construction of the third temple on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in preparation for the descent of the Messiah according to the vision of these groups.

Monitoring the movements of these groups, as mentioned earlier, reveals that there are actual movements on the ground among the followers of the Salvationist movement and extremist temple groups to carry out the operation. This indicates that these groups are eager to exploit the current wartime conditions and push them to the limit, with full support from the extremist faction in Netanyahu’s government. An area above the Mount of Olives, supposed to be the stage for this operation, has been prepared for this purpose. This area overlooks the Dome of the Rock from the east according to the Talmudic vision of this event. Therefore, it will either take place in the courtyard of the Dominus Flevit Church or an adjacent garden.

One of the pieces of evidence confirming the intent of these groups to carry out this operation on the upcoming Eid al-Fitr is the so-called “Temple Institute” posting an announcement seeking volunteer priests to train them in the rituals of slaughtering and burning the red heifer and carrying out the intended purification process. Among the conditions, the volunteer priest must be born at home or in a hospital in Jerusalem to ensure that he has not been exposed to what is called “the impurity of the dead” in hospitals.

Furthermore, a video was recently released by Rabbi Eliezer and Vincent, in which they spoke of “miracles happening,” linking the war on Gaza and the near construction of the third temple to “eliminating Gaza,” indicating a clear intention among the followers of this movement to carry out this operation on Eid al-Fitr.

This comes with senior figures of the religious Zionist movement urging the Israeli government to launch a ground operation in Rafah to eliminate Palestinian resistance and declare its “victory” in the battle during Ramadan, as stated by Minister Benny Gantz on the occasion when gave a deadline until the beginning of Ramadan for the release of Israeli prisoners before a ground operation commences in Rafah during the month.

All these signs indicate that we are heading towards a scenario of attempting to carry out this operation and opening the door wide open as soon as Ramadan ends for tens of thousands of religious Jews to nullify the fatwa prohibiting entry to Al-Aqsa and storming it with tens of thousands. This would finally enable them to carry out the rituals of animal sacrifices on Eid al-Fitr in mid-Shawwal of the coming year!

The situation is extremely dangerous, and matters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are heading towards a decisive conclusion, either towards imposing the scenario desired by the temple groups and the religious Zionists or restraining and completely halting them.

It should be noted here that strong popular reactions against these disastrous tendencies in an early period before attempting to implement them on the ground necessarily mean that these groups will have to postpone their plans and actions for at least a full year under pressure from Israeli security forces.

It is imperative for the Palestinian people first and for the entire Islamic world to realize that they now have a historic opportunity to deter these groups and completely thwart their schemes, or to turn their salvationist vision and religious obsession into a real obstacle to the existence of the Zionist project as a whole, deepening the rift and division in the Israeli society and making it preoccupied with itself.