In his book History of the Caliphs, Jalal al Din al Suyuti recounts that the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al Malik disliked bloodshed and longed for a single day free from reports of war, conspiracies and unrest.
One day, he withdrew to his palace in Al Rusafa, hoping for peace. Before midday, however, a blood-stained feather arrived from one of the frontier regions. Disturbed, he reportedly exclaimed, “Not even one day?”
That story mirrors the situation today. Hardly a day passes without another controversy emerging from the Religious Zionist movement in Israel and its allies in the United States.
No sooner had the uproar surrounding the five red heifers subsided, after three were found to have developed physical defects and the remaining two also appeared unlikely to qualify for the required purification ritual, than news broke of the birth of another red heifer in the Galilee.
The announcement quickly spread across social media, particularly among Evangelical Christian groups in the United States, after reports emerged that an entirely red calf had been born on an Israeli farm in the Upper Galilee.
Born in the “Land of Israel”
According to the images circulated online, the calf appears to be completely red.
Unlike the five red heifers imported from Texas in 2022, it also overcomes what many religious authorities considered a major obstacle because it was born within what they describe as the “Land of Israel”, a condition regarded as significant by Haredi religious authorities.
Its birth echoes the case of another red heifer born in Israel in 2005.
At the time, Israeli media widely celebrated the event before the animal was transferred to a farm in the Negev. Expectations later collapsed after several black hairs appeared on its body, rendering it unsuitable according to the religious criteria held by those who had regarded it as a miraculous sign.
Interest in the latest calf has been further fuelled by the fact that it was born in the Galilee during the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Some members of these religious movements have interpreted their birth “under enemy fire” as a divine sign.
“Divine Signs” and Religious Symbolism
This interpretation of so-called divine signs is not new among these groups.
The author recalls a video showing members of Temple activist groups entering Al Aqsa Mosque through the northern steps leading to the Dome of the Rock. As they stood there, an elderly Palestinian woman with a bent back walked past them.
Some interpreted the scene as a divine sign symbolising what they described as “the bending of the descendants of Ishmael before the descendants of Isaac.”
For that reason, it is unsurprising that they now describe the birth of the calf as another divine sign heralding what they believe to be the approaching arrival of the Messiah.
The Problem With the Ear Piercing
Ironically, the development attracting the greatest attention also presents the greatest religious obstacle.
Before the calf was recognised as a possible candidate for the purification ritual, its Israeli owner had pierced one of its ears to attach the standard plastic identification tag required under Israeli livestock regulations.
According to rabbinic religious requirements, however, this alone is sufficient to disqualify the animal.
The purification ritual requires that the red heifer must never have suffered injury, physical damage or even a scratch. It must never have ploughed a field, carried a yoke around its neck or been ridden by a person.
Based on these religious requirements, the ear piercing should have rendered the calf permanently unsuitable for the ritual.
Can the Ear Heal?
Rather than abandoning hope, some rabbis associated with the Religious Zionist movement, together with their Evangelical Christian allies in the United States, refused to accept the disqualification as final.
The plastic identification tag was removed, and the calf was transferred to what is known as the National Red Heifer Institute, established by the Temple Institute in Israel.
The institute will now closely monitor whether the pierced ear heals completely while continuing to observe the calf’s daily condition until it reaches the required religious age of two years and two months.
During that period, it will also be examined to ensure that no hairs of any colour other than red appear and that nothing else occurs which would invalidate it under the requirements of the purification ritual.
Why Evangelicals Show Greater Interest
One notable aspect of the latest developments is that the strongest reaction has come from Evangelical Christians rather than Jewish religious circles.
The issue has received relatively little attention across most Jewish news and analytical platforms.
The same pattern was evident with the five red heifers imported from Texas, where enthusiasm among the American Evangelical right far exceeded that seen in Israel or among mainstream Jewish religious institutions.
This reflects the intense religious expectations that dominate influential Evangelical circles in the United States.
According to the article, many Evangelicals believe humanity is living in the sixth historical era before the second coming of Christ.
Everything taking place in Israel is therefore viewed as contributing to the fulfilment of that prophetic timeline.
As a result, members of these movements often display a greater willingness than traditional Jewish religious authorities to actively pursue what they believe will prepare the way for the Messiah.
By contrast, Israel’s official rabbinate generally maintains that such divine signs should emerge naturally without deliberate human intervention.
Al Aqsa at the Centre of the Debate
The article argues that this religious mindset helps explain the growing influence of messianic thinking among some decision makers within the current American administration regarding the future of Al Aqsa Mosque.
For many years, concern over the consequences of altering the status of Al Aqsa served as a restraint on Israeli policy.
The article points to a report published by Middle East Eye last month claiming that the current US administration has prepared a plan, reportedly communicated to several regional governments, that would end Islamic custodianship over Al Aqsa Mosque.
According to the report, the proposal would dissolve the Islamic Waqf Council and establish an international authority, including Israeli participation, to oversee the mosque in place of the existing Islamic Waqf administration.
Although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied any knowledge of the proposal, the article argues that multiple developments point towards efforts to implement it through close cooperation between the current American administration, which it describes as heavily influenced by the Evangelical movement, and Israel’s Religious Zionist government.
A Coordinated Campaign
The article points to numerous videos published by prominent religious figures on both sides that promote this agenda.
Among them are repeated appearances by Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safed and one of the leading Religious Zionist ideologues, calling for the construction of a synagogue inside Al Aqsa Mosque.
It also references a recent video featuring Eliyahu alongside Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in which Ben Gvir pledged to build the synagogue within the mosque compound.
The article also highlights repeated statements by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee openly supporting efforts to resolve the issue in favour of these religious movements.
At the same time, writers and commentators associated with the Religious Zionist movement have launched what the article describes as a coordinated media campaign targeting the Islamic Waqf administration.
Israeli right wing media have extensively revived reports of a dispute between Israeli police and the Waqf Council after its chairman refused to attend a meeting at the Qishla police station, despite the incident having occurred more than three months earlier.
The campaign coincided with an article by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu published earlier this month in the right wing outlet Makor Rishon, where he described the Islamic Waqf as “Hamas’s office in Jerusalem.”
The article compares this campaign to Israel’s previous efforts to discredit UNRWA before later designating it a terrorist organisation and outlawing it during the Gaza war.
According to the author, this closely aligns with the plan reported by Middle East Eye to abolish the Islamic Waqf and transfer oversight of Al Aqsa to an authority that includes Israel.
The Wider Implications
Taken together, the article argues that these developments help explain why Evangelical movements have shown unprecedented interest in anything that appears to reinforce their religious beliefs surrounding an anticipated Armageddon.
Within that worldview, few places carry greater symbolic significance than Al Aqsa Mosque.
The article recalls that it was Australian Evangelical Christian Denis Michael Rohan who set fire to Al Aqsa Mosque on 21 August 1969.
It argues that renewed attention to the red heifer narrative today serves to justify the measures pursued by these groups and their allies in Israel regarding the future of Al Aqsa.
The article concludes that the Muslim world, both governments and peoples, led by the Palestinian people, now faces two choices.
Either it confronts what it describes as American Israeli religious extremism surrounding the future of the region, or it remains, in the author’s words, “hostage to the pierced ear of the red heifer”, ultimately risking the loss of Al Aqsa Mosque and all that it represents.
