Michael Dennis Rohan is an Australian citizen who gained worldwide infamy on August 21, 1969, when he attempted to set fire to the Al-Aqsa mosque, located atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The life of Rohan, like that of Bobby Fischer, was influenced by the Worldwide Church of God and this translated into personal actions which impacted much of the world in a very negative manner.

Brief biography

Not much seems to be known at present about Michael Rohan apart from his sudden emergence in the wake of the fire at the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Lord's emissary

By his own admission Rohan claimed that he was "the Lord's emissary" acting upon divine instructions in accordance with the Book of Zechariah. He claimed that he had tried to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to enable the Jews of Israel to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount and thus hasten the second coming of Jesus as the Messiah to rule the world for one thousand years.

Rohan was arrested for the arson attack on August 23, 1969. He was tried, found to be insane, hospitalized in a mental institution and later deported from Israel.

This single act set in motion a chain of propaganda which Yassar Arafat recalled repeatedly during his many interviews on American television programs. However, this strange incident is still shrouded in mystery due to the distortions surrounding what appears to be a single illogical act, carried out by a single individual who was motivated by an American cult leader who later repudiated his own propaganda.

The Plain Truth magazine

While the Arab press accused Israel of setting the fire, Michael Dennis Rohan claimed that he had attempted to burn down the mosque after reading an editorial by Herbert W. Armstrong in the June 1967 edition of The Plain Truth magazine. Millions of copies of that monthly publication were distributed free of charge every year by the Radio Church of God which changed its name to the Worldwide Church of God and was best known for its radio and later television programs called The World Tomorrow featuring his son, Garner Ted Armstrong.

While The Plain Truth magazine looked like a quality news magazine, its texts contained ever changing prophecies which were constantly being shown to be in error due to the passage of time and the recording of actual events. In the May/June edition of 1941, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote (using emphasis shown) that:

Since the last issue many things have occurred, every one in accordance with prophecy! ... War events thunder on, rapidly approaching the prophesied climax!... Hitler now emerges as the "BEAST" of Revelation! Bible prophecy shows the Roman Axis forces will take Egypt, Suez, Palestine, -- even Gibraltar. Britain will go down. And, unless we turn as a nation to God our beloved United States will have to go under ... we lack TOTAL Defense, without which we shall never win. We are at the END of the present order. ARMAGEDDON is now just a short way off.

In 1956 Herbert W. Armstrong wrote the booklet 1975 in Prophecy! which was illustrated by Basil Wolverton and offered free of charge to listeners of The World Tomorrow radio program and readers of The Plain Truth magazine, of which Ronan was a subscriber. This booklet predicted the course of future events which would result in a World War III and the return of Jesus to save humanity.

1967 editorial

The article in Personal from the Editor by Herbert W. Armstrong which motivated Rohan, was in line with the message contained in the booklet 1975 in Prophecy!. The editorial stated that:

There will be a Jewish Temple built in Jerusalem, with animal sacrifices once again being offered -- probably within about four-and-one-half years. It is going to take some time to build such a Temple. And I don't see how they have another month to spare. ... There will very soon be a Temple in Jerusalem, with daily sacrifices once again being offered.

This was not a new claim by The Plain Truth magazine. On page 4 of the October 1958 edition, it reported that:

A temple or sanctuary is yet to be built by the Jews in Jerusalem. It shall happen in less than 14 years from now (1972).

Rohan who was living in Australia in 1967 when he read the 1967 editorial by Herbert W. Armstrong. Rohan had met a minister of the Worldwide Church of God and he had been counseled about membership, but he had not as yet become a member. However, this and similar texts motivated Rohan to go to Israel in 1969 in order to make the words of Herbert W. Armstrong come true.

Response by Herbert W. Armstrong

On September 26, 1969, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote to financial contributors to The World Tomorrow program. He addressed his mailing list as "Co-Workers with Christ" and the emphasis in the abbreviated text below is in the original:

… News dispatches are going out to newspapers all over the world attempting to identify with me the arsonist charged with setting fire to the Al Aksa Mosque -- with Ambassador College, and our Work.

Every effort, it seems, is being made to link us with it in a way to discredit the Work of God. The man, Rohan being held as the arsonist, the dispatches say, claims to be identified with us. This claim is TOTALLY FALSE. The first any of us at Pasadena ever heard of this man was when the press dispatches began coming over the Teletypes in our News Bureau. Checkups revealed that this man had sent in for and received a number of our Correspondence Course lessons. Last December he had sent in a subscription to The PLAIN TRUTH. But any claim to any further connection or association with us is an absolute lie.

Two million others subscribe to The PLAIN TRUTH. 100,000 others subscribe to the Correspondence Course lessons. These are sent to any and everybody who requests them, FREE. But such subscriptions do not connect us with such subscribers or any act any one of them might commit, any more than a subscription to the New York TIMES makes that newspaper responsible for any acts committed by its subscribers. I am writing from our (Bricket Wood) British campus. Mr. Stanley Rader, our General Legal Counsel, and Mr. Hunting, Bursar of the College here, are in Jerusalem conferring with officials there with whom we are associated in the archaeological project. I am momentarily expecting a telephone call from them. It is forcing us to go to great effort, and expense, to try to offset this vicious and false persecution. It could get blown up out of all proportion and do tremendous harm to God's Work.

… We have to be VERY DEEPLY CONCERNED with what happens when this trial comes up in Jerusalem on October 6. We need to PRAY, deeply earnest, as never before, that God will stay the hand of Satan, and not involve HIS WORK. Scores of newspaper men will be there. …

Herbert W. Armstong dropped his claims following arson

In the wake of this incident Herbert W. Armstrong decided to drop all claims to the building of a physical Temple, because at the time he was trying to establish a relationship with the government of Israel. He had previously developed a relationship with King Hussein of Jordan prior to the Six Day War and had actually signed a contract to go on the AM and shortwave Jordanian transmitters located in the West Bank with his daily radio program called The World Tomorrow. When Israel gained control of the West Bank it also voided Armstrong's contract and as a result he then courted the favors of the government of Israel by becoming involved with such projects as the archeological digs in the area of the Temple Mount.

Other sources currently advocating the restoration of the Temple

• A web site called The Temple Mount in Jerusalem advocates the restoration of the Temple and contains more information about Michael Dennis Rohan:

Since 1967 there have been various attempts by individuals and by groups to assault the Temple Mount in order to perform Jewish blood sacrifices, to destroy a Muslim building, or to upset the balance of power and to alter the status quo. On August 21, 1969 Michael Rohan a non-Jewish tourist from Australia set fire to the Al Aksa Mosque. Firefighters fought the blaze for four hours as an angry Muslim crowd shouted "Down with Israel." The president of the Muslim Council accused the fire brigades of a deliberately slow response. The Arab states blamed Israel for the incident even though Rohan identified himself as a "Church of God" member. The fire destroyed a priceless on thousand year old wood and ivory pulpit (minbar) that had been sent from Aleppo by Saladin. At his trial Rohan told the court that he believed himself to be "the Lord's emissary" in accordance with a prophecy in the Book of Zechariah. The court convicted Rohan but then declared him criminally insane. He was placed in an Israeli mental hospital. The Temple Mount remained closed to non-Muslims for two months after the incident. For the next three years, all non-Muslims were barred from El Aksa Mosque.

• An organization called the International Christian Zionist Center currently promotes a similar theme of a restored Temple on the Temple Mount on their Internet web site:

Satan ... kept his grip on the Temple Mount for hundreds of years, until he was almost unseated in the 1967 Six-Day War. ... Islam was permitted to hold sway over who would worship on the Mount. And for the last 32 years, Jews and Christians have been forbidden from doing so. ... The "political" struggle over Jerusalem has really never had anything to do with whom heads up which municipality or who oversees the city's housing, parks or public buildings or even who controls the old city. At the heart of the battle lies this small piece of real estate called Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, the Temple Mount - today in the shadow of an Islamic mosque, but, according to the Bible, soon to be home again to a majestic temple built to the glory of God.

Arab reaction to arson attack

The Arab press accused the government of Israel and claimed that Rohan was "Jewish". Yassar Arafat later developed a regular television interview speech in which he would refer back to this act of attempted arson, while avoiding mention of Rohan by name, as being the reason for his own motivation for attacks on Israel.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London pictured Rohan on its front page with a copy of The Plain Truth magazine sticking out from his outside jacket pocket.

Response by United Nations

After several meetings by the Security Council to discuss the complaint, it adopted on September 15, 1969, Resolution 271 (1969):

Grieved at the extensive damage caused by arson to the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on 21 August 1969 under the military occupation of Israel. ... Mindful of the consequent loss to human culture, Having heard the statements made before the Council reflecting the universal outrage caused by the act of sacrilege in one of the most venerated shrines of mankind, Recalling its resolution 252 (1968) of 21 May 1968 and 267 (1969) of 3 July 1969 and the earlier General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V) of 4 and 14 July 1967, respectively, concerning measures and actions by Israel affecting the status of the City of Jerusalem. Reaffirming the established principle that acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible. ... Recognizes that any act of destruction or profanation of the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites in Jerusalem or any encouragement of, or connivance at, any such act may seriously endanger international peace and security ...

Adopted at the 1512th meeting by 11 votes to none, with 4 abstentions (Columbia, Finland, Paraguay, United States of America.)

Response by Arab leaders

On August 28, 1969 a complaint was submitted to the United Nations Security Council by twenty-four Muslim countries in response to due the Al Aqsa arson attempt. Mohammad El Farra of Jordan stated:

Today, my delegation joins the 24 other members, representing 750 million adherents of the Muslim faith, which requested a meeting to consider another, more serious tragedy, namely of Al Aqsa Mosque, and the fire which severely damaged that historic Holy Place on the morning of 21 August 1969. The Israeli authorities introduced more than one explanation for the start of the fire and at last charged an Australian with the arson. According to news that originated from Israel sources, the Australian suspect is a friend of Israel who was brought by the Jewish Agency to work for Israel.

The Jewish Agency arranged for the Australian to work in a Kibbutz for some months, so that he could learn the Hebrew language and acquire more of the Zionist teaching. The report published in the Jerusalem Post - an Israeli semi-official newspaper-of 25 August 1969 concerning the life of this Australian in the Kibbutz and his dreams of building Solomon’s temple casts doubt on the case and adds to the fears and worries of the Muslims about their holy shrines; it also throws light on who is the criminal and who is the accomplice.

We have not forgotten statements in the early days of the 5 June 1967 Israeli occupation about the future of Jerusalem, nor have we forgotten the report of Menahem Borsh, which was published in Yediot Aharanot of 18 August, 1969, only three days before the burning of the Mosque, emphasizing that the Temple would be built anew in the same spot ... on Thursday, 21 August 1969.

The Arab Press further reported that:

In the early hours of that morning fire broke out at the Al Aqsa Mosque. Muslims praying in the Mosque and others rushed to the scene to remove some of the valuables in the Mosque and extinguish the fire. The Jordanian fire brigade in Jerusalem was called. Muslim religious leaders as well as Jordanian officials within the Israeli-occupied area came to the scene.

To the outside world news of the fire came in Arabic from Radio Israel at 8:30 a.m., that is, one hour and ten minutes after the fire started. The broadcast carried the news of the arson; it did not give any reason for the fire and did not say whether it was extinguished.

Meanwhile, Jordanian fire brigades from Ramallah, and even those from Al Khalil (Hebron) and Nablus, were sent to the scene ... According to Reuters, it took the fire brigades over five hours to extinguish the fire; this, to a certain extent, was substantiated by Israeli authorities.

Remaining questions by Arab media

Was Rohan, after all, acting on his own initiative? Was he not brought to Israel and sponsored by the Jewish Agency? (Note: The Jewish Agency's mission is primarily to bring Jews to Israel, at times there are some people who may not be Jewish by birth who may be brought to Israel as well.) Where did he get all the money which he offered to the guards of Al Aqsa on the morning of the fire and which the guards declined to take? According to The Times of London, of 12 September 1969: "On Rohan’s way out he offered each 110 pounds sterling but they declined ... According to the same semi-official Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post of 25 August 1969, Rohan’s foster-parents in the kibbutz said: "He never appeared to be short of money to us."

Response by and on behalf of Yassar Arafat

"During an assembly commemorating the 1969 arson attempt on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Zakhariya Al-Agha, a member of the PA Executive Council, made a speech on Arafat's behalf, stressing the determination of the Palestinian people to continue along the path of Jihad until the occupation ends." [1], (August 22, 2001.)

Response by Aljazeera Television

On the web site of Aljazeera Television the following information has been posted about Michael Dennis Rohan:

Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock mosques have come under several attacks since 1967 as Jewish groups prepared for construction of the Third Temple. ... In 1967, a Jewish group tried to lead prayers within the Sanctuary despite a Rabbinate prohibition. Two years later, the entire south wing of the mosque was burned, including a pulpit commissioned by the Muslim leader Salah al-Din al-Ayubi some 700 years earlier. Israeli authorities claimed the perpetrator - Australian Dennis Michael Rohan, a tourist belonging to an evangelical group who hid out in an illegal Israeli settlement - had been mentally imbalanced. By his own admission, he claimed that he was trying to hasten the return of the Messiah by destroying the mosque and rebuilding the temple in its place. Rohan's actions may have alluded to research conducted by Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, who claimed that the Second Temple stood on the very grounds of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Noble Sanctuary.

2003 Hamas attacks in the name of Rohan

On August 21, 2003 The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia reported "Ceasefire illusion just blown away":

The terrorist bomb that killed at least 18 Israelis in Jerusalem yesterday has shattered the illusion of a Palestinian ceasefire and dealt yet another blow to the moribund peace process. The bomb was detonated on a packed bus taking people from the Jewish shrine at the Western Wall, just after it turned into the narrow, crowded streets of the ultra-Orthodox Shmuel Hanavi neighbourhood. Another bus travelling behind was also badly damaged by the five-kilogram homemade bomb. At least five children were among the dead, and more than 50 passengers and bystanders, including many children, were take to hospital badly injured...

Islamic Jihad claimed that it carried out the attack in revenge for the Israeli killing of one of its leaders in Hebron last week. Shortly afterwards, however, Hamas released a video of the bomber, whom it named as mosque preacher Raed Abdel-Hamed Mesk, 29, from Hebron, a city still under Israeli control. Hamas claimed that the attack was timed to coincide with the anniversary of a 1969 attempt by a deranged Australian Christian, Dennis Michael Rohan, to set fire to Jerusalem's hallowed Al Aqsa mosque...

2004 Comments by Mufti of Jerusalem

On by September 6, 2004, Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, the Mufti of Jerusalem is reported to have commented that:

Since the Israeli occupation in 1967, the Islamic Waqf has been constantly wary of attempts by extremists to harm Aqsa. Most infamous was the fire set to the Aqsa Mosque on August 21, 1969 at the hands of one Michael Dennis Rohan, said to be an Australian national. At the time, the Israeli authorities said he was insane so as to clear him from standing trial and the file was closed. [2]

Israeli Chief Rabbinate response

According to the Jewish Political Studies Review, Volume 11:1-2, Spring 1999, author Yoel Cohen recorded that the official Israeli Chief Rabbinate adopted a mostly conservative stance toward the capture by Israel of the Temple Mount in 1967, in response to questions of whether to rebuild the Temple and reinstitute the sacrificial service to whether to allow Jews to ascend the Temple Mount to pray:

Given the uncertainty where the Temple building itself was located, Unterman and Nissim (Israel's chief rabbis at the time) decided to impose a complete ban on the Mount. Dr. Zerah Warhaftig, the Religious Affairs Minister, who favored preserving the "status quo," fearing that permission to Jews to pray on the Mount would enflame the Arab world, spoke to the two rabbis about the political dangers.

Cohen further footnoted these remarks with comments from an interview:

Dr. Warhaftig said that in 1967-68 he had favored the erection of a small synagogue in the area of El Aqsa, but once he saw the violent reactions after the Michael Rohan arson at El Aqsa in 1968, he concluded that such a step would not be possible. "Had it just been a matter of the Palestinians," Warhaftig said, he would have favored prayer facilities for those Jews who insisted on such prayer rights, even though it transgressed the decisions of the chief rabbis. But once he saw the emotional strength of feelings throughout the Moslem world, he did not pursue this idea.

External links

• Palestine Facts: Who was responsible for the al-Aqsa Mosque fire in 1969?
• From Daniel Pipes' Weblog (August 21, 2004): Jordan's Al-Aqsa Conspiracy Theory
• From Incontext blogmosis (August 21, 2002): The myth of the Al-Aqsa fire
• IsraCast (July 25, 2004): Temple Mount Nightmare