Trump And the Temple Mount

Questions around Jews regaining access to the Mount, the restarting of sacrifices, and the building of a Third Temple

The Peacemaker

Temple Mount Donald Trump claims to have stopped five wars in five months. He brought peace between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers who were engaged in a live conflict over Kashmir. He has brought an end to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a conflict which has been active for thirty-five years! All previous international attempts to solve this conflict were unsuccessful.

Bringing peace between Russia and Ukraine is now looking increasingly unlikely, though Trump still hopes to claim it as his sixth peace deal. Peace in the Middle East would be the crowning success, should he ever achieve it.

The Middle East

The nations are gathering together against Israel as the horrors of war in Gaza multiply. As the Israeli government proceeds with its plan to take Gaza City, international tensions and opposition to Israel, which were already high, have increased even more in recent weeks.

President Trump has indicated that he is content to let Israel continue with its current strategy. But if the international outcry grows too strong, will he be forced to step in as peacemaker in the Middle East?

Trump and the Temple Mount

Real, lasting peace will be hard to come by. Israel’s main concern, is of course, its own security, and the return of the hostages. It sees the complete dismantling of Hamas as the only way of achieving this. Hamas’ demands are impossible to grant in totality, as that would involve the end of Israel as a nation. But to achieve a short to medium term peace, could both sides be mollified by just some of their demands being met, together with some sweeteners?

If Trump is forced to step in as peacemaker in the Middle East, what will his ‘deal’ look like? He gave the Jews what they wanted in his first term by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and unilaterally and unexpectedly recognised Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Trump is acting more boldly and assertively in his second term. Would he restore the Temple Mount to the Jews as part of a Middle East ‘deal’? This may mollify the ‘hard-liners’ on Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, making them more amenable to making concessions elsewhere.

Trump is acting more boldly and assertively in his second term. Would he restore the Temple Mount to the Jews as part of a Middle East ‘deal’?

Restoring the Temple Mount to the Jews would provoke significant opposition, but Trump has demonstrated that he cares nothing for diplomatic niceties or international opinion. He is currently upending the entire international trading order with his unilateral imposition of tariffs against many nations and shows no sign of backing down. Use of tit-for-tat tariffs in global trade goes against long-established economic thinking, but Trump cares nothing for mainstream thinking.

He has shown that he is prepared to use economic pressure and threats of military action to impose his ‘deals’: he is punishing India with increased tariffs with a view to stopping India buying oil from Russia, and he repositioned ‘nuclear submarines’ as a threat to Russia when frustrated with Russia’s refusal to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine. Similar tactics could be used to enforce an internationally unpalatable Middle East ‘deal’ which grants Israel access to the Temple Mount.

Help from Huckabee

Given the stance of key U.S. officials on Israel, there could well be support from the United States government for the Jews regaining access to the Temple Mount. Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, believes that the Jews should settle Judea and Samaria. He has a longstanding association with Yehuda Glick, former executive director of the Temple Institute, a state-funded organisation which supports the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. Glick subsequently founded a series of organisations that promote and popularise the Temple Movement, including the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, The Liba Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount, and Human Rights on Temple Mount.

Given the stance of key U.S. officials on Israel, there could well be support from the United States government for the Jews regaining access to the Temple Mount.

On 14 February 2017, Huckabee and Glick participated in a conference held in the Binyamin Region town of Psagot to support the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria. Glick said at the conference: “I thank Mike Huckabee from the depths of my heart for being a true friend of Israel…. The American people and people with values should support Israel building in Judea and Samaria, together with the Western world.” Huckabee said in response: “The settlers live here, in the Binyamin Region, because they believe God gave this land to their forefather Abraham, and they live this promise every day. I thank these Jews, who are living in Israel, for allowing us to come here and to see this miracle of a place.”

On 22 May 2017, Huckabee joined with Glick in signing The Jerusalem Covenant, a document presented as a renewal of the biblical pact between God and the Jewish prophets affirming Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal and united capital. On 20 January 2025, the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, founded by U.S. pastor Mike Evans, hosted a celebration to mark Donald Trump’s inauguration for his second term as president. Pastor Evans and Yehuda Glick led prayers during the event; Yehuda Glick also gave an address, and Mike Huckabee sent a message of support.

Huckabee’s video message to the gathering stated that he was “looking forward to urgently getting on the mission [?] and to bring[ing] peace, security and great opportunity.” Commenting on the event, Mike Evans said: “Mike Huckabee supports sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and don’t think for a second that Donald Trump didn’t know that when he chose him [as ambassador to Israel].”

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson visited Israel in February 2020. During this trip, he was escorted on a visit to the Temple Mount by Yehuda Glick. He was escorted at other times by Avi Abelow, also an activist seeking the return of Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount. On 4 August 2025 Johnson dined with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ambassador Huckabee in the settlement of Shiloh, together with their wives.

Third Temple

If and when the Jews regain access to the Temple Mount, how long will it be before sacrifices are restarted, and, possibly, a Third Temple is built? Preparations for such sacrifices have been made for some time by movements such as the Temple Institute, to the extent that they are more or less ready to begin.

Will the restoration of access to the Temple Mount coincide with the agreement of a covenant with the Antichrist referenced in Daniel Chapter 9?

Will the restoration of access to the Temple Mount coincide with the agreement of a covenant with the Antichrist referenced in Daniel Chapter 9? Daniel 9:27 makes it clear that the Antichrist will bring an end to sacrifice and offering in the middle of a seven-year period [‘one week’], at which point ‘the abomination of desolation’ will take place and ‘The Tribulation’ will commence.

For sacrifices and offerings to be brought to an end, they will first have to have been restarted. Will upcoming political events lead to the Jews being given access to the Temple Mount, resulting in the recommencement of sacrifices and offerings in that place, and setting the clock ticking on the approach of the Tribulation?

One can only speculate, but it’s certainly a possibility that may be worth watching; and as always, we should seek the Lord's discernment. Come, Lord Jesus.

Clive MacDonald, 12/09/2025

Feedback:

	Ian Liddle	12/09/2025 16:20
Many thanks for this interesting article. However, I am a little puzzled precisely what is meant by the Jews "regaining access to the temple mount". Ever since June 1967, the Jews have retained military control over the temple mount, whilst permitting the Jordanian Islamic Trust (or Waqf) to continue to administer the site in most respects. The legal situation changed somewhat, in my opinion, on 15th October 2020, when the Knesset voted overwhelmingly to approve the Normalization Agreement with the UAE. The 4th clause of this agreement states that the Knesset affirms the Abraham Accords. The final sentence of the 7th paragraph of these accords states: "As set forth in the Vision for Peace, all Muslims who come in peace may visit and pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque (my comment: at southern end of temple mount), and Jerusalem's other holy sites (my comment: including site of former temple) should remain open for peaceful worshippers of all faiths (my comment: including Jews)." We might note that Itamar Ben-Gvir has exercised that right to worship peacefully on the temple mount, and the number of Jews in general who have visited the temple mount compound has increased considerably since 15th October 2020.
	Clive MacDonald	12/09/2025 18:16
Thank you for your informative comment Ian. While it is true that Itamar Ben Gvir has been pushing the boundaries of what is allowed on the Temple Mount recently, the article posits an agreement which allows free and open mass worship by Jews, as well as sacrifices and even possibly the building of a temple. There is no possibility of any of this occurring under the current restrictions and political environment.
	Jenny Yates	12/09/2025 23:34
There may or may not be a third temple and the re-introduction of blood sacrifices, but if there is, I do not believe it will be God's will, or that such a temple will be the place where the man of lawlessness (or man without Torah) "sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God," (2 Thess.2:3-4). Under the New Covenant, blood sacrifices are obsolete, and the temple of God, where he dwells by his Spirit, is now a spiritual temple, the Church (Eph.2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5). Clive says, "Daniel 9:27 makes it clear that the Antichrist will bring an end to sacrifice and offering in the middle of a seven-year period [‘one week’], at which point ‘the abomination of desolation’ will take place and ‘The Tribulation’ will commence." That, however, is only one of several possible interpretations of the text, and is much disputed. In fact, the idea that 'Daniel's 70th week' is the Great Tribulation which will last for 7 years, was unknown before Darby introduced Dispensationalism. Instead of assuming that Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and Revelation 13:8 and 14 refer to a literal statue or image in a physical temple in Jerusalem, it's time to think outside the box. Since the Church is now God's temple, I suggest the Antichrist will somehow set himself up, claiming himself to be God, in the Church! Given advances in digital technology, maybe the image of the beast which appears to breathe and speak, and which the world is commanded to worship, will be created digitally by AI - visible more-or-less all over the world.
	Michael Petek	13/09/2025 18:24
According to 16th century theologian Robert Bellarmine, the Temple of God in which the Antichrist will sit could only be the one in Jerusalem, as it's the only one the Jews could recognise. The Antichrist, however, won't come before the Jews recognise Jesus, not before the Gospel has been proclaimed to all nations - which it hasn't yet been. The resumption of the animal sacrifices isn't according to the will of Christ - He is the High Priest who has authorised only the Eucharist according to the law of the High Priest's perpetual grain offering, which he must make in the day when he is anointed - every day. (Leviticus 6).