Denis Michael Rohan (born 1 July 1941) is an Australian arsonist responsible for the

Al-Aqsa mosque fire The Al-Aqsa mosque fire was an arson attack on Jerusalem's Jami'a Al-Aqsa, the primary prayer hall / mosque building within Jerusalem's Masjid Al-Aqsa (known to Jews as the Temple Mount), on 21 August 1969. The attack was carried out by Australi ...

, which took place in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

on 21 August 1969. His attack on

Al-Aqsa Mosque Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...

, which began after he set fire to the

Minbar of Saladin The Minbar of the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Minbar of Saladin, was a notable historic ''minbar'' (pulpit in a mosque) inside the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It was originally commissioned by Nur al-Din in 1168-69 CE in Aleppo, Syria and w ...

, inflamed tensions across the

Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

and triggered the most high-level crisis in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. Rohan was arrested by Israeli authorities on 23 August 1969; he was tried in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, found to be insane, and subsequently admitted to a

mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

. On 14 May 1974, Rohan was deported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

"on humanitarian grounds, for further psychiatric treatment near his family" and transferred to the

Callan Park Hospital for the Insane The Callan Park Hospital for the Insane (1878 – 1914) is a heritage-listed former insane asylum, which was subsequently, for a time, used as a college campus, located in the grounds of Callan Park, an area on the shores of Iron Cove in Lilyfie ...

on the outskirts of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Some sources claim that he died in 1995, but a 2009 investigation by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) found that was still alive. Rohan also spoke to an ABC journalist a few years after the findings.

Mental illness and religious convictions

According to a detailed article by

Abraham Rabinovich Abraham Rabinovich is a historian and journalist who has published several books on recent Jewish history. As a reporter, his work has appeared in ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', the ''International Herald Tribune'', ''The Ne ...

, Rohan's first known case of

auditory hallucination An auditory hallucination, or paracusia, is a form of hallucination that involves perceiving sounds without auditory stimulus. While experiencing an auditory hallucination, the affected person would hear a sound or sounds which did not come from t ...

s (which he believed to be divine "revelations") came in Australia in 1964, when he was asked by his employer to transport "an

augur An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying i ...

, a 30-foot-long lift device" by truck 35 miles to another location, but was commanded by a voice in his head not to do so. His manager told him he was "mentally sick", and he was committed to Bloomfield Mental Hospital for four months. After his release he moved first to England where he worked at a hospital in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, and then to Israel where he arrived by ship in March 1969. He volunteered at

Mishmar Hasharon Mishmar HaSharon ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' Guard of the Sharon) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

in the Sharon Valley between Haifa and Tel Aviv where he stayed a few months. According to kibbutzniks, one night they were startled by wild shouts from Rohan; when one volunteer attempted to calm him, Rohan told them he thought that perhaps he was Jewish. He spoke to an American theology student and volunteer of "the imminence of the Messiah's coming and the construction of a new temple". From the kibbutz he went to Jerusalem, staying in hotels. After reading a biblical passage in the

Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah, attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Historical context Zechariah's prophecies took place during the reign of Darius the Great and were contempora ...

Behold the man whose name is the branch, for he shall grow up in his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the Temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor and shall sit and rule upon the throne.

Rohan became convinced that he was "the branch" and destined to "build the Temple of the Lord".

1969 attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque

On the morning of 21 August 1969, Rohan started a fire fuelled by kerosene in the al-Aqsa Mosque. The fire destroyed an intricately designed 12th-century

minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...

, or pulpit, known as the

minbar of Saladin The Minbar of the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Minbar of Saladin, was a notable historic ''minbar'' (pulpit in a mosque) inside the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It was originally commissioned by Nur al-Din in 1168-69 CE in Aleppo, Syria and w ...

. Rohan, who had been in Israel on a tourist visa, was arrested two days later. He pleaded insanity and was deported.

Motives

Rohan, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, stated that he considered himself "the Lord's emissary" and that he tried to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque acting upon divine instructions to enable the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s of

to rebuild the Temple on the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...

in accordance with the

, thereby hastening the

second coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Rohan mistakenly believed that the al-Aqsa Mosque occupied the site of the temple, when in fact the Dome of the Rock did. The mosque was instead built on the foundations of a Herodian

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

called the Royal Stoa. Rohan was a subscriber of ''

The Plain Truth ''The Plain Truth'' was a free-of-charge monthly magazine, first published in 1934 by Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of The Radio Church of God, which he later named The Worldwide Church of God (WCG). The magazine, subtitled as ''The Plain Truth: ...

'' magazine published by the

Worldwide Church of God Worldwide may refer to: * Pertaining to the entire world * Worldwide (rapper) (born 1986), American rapper * Pitbull (rapper) (born 1981), also known as Mr. Worldwide, American rapper * ''Worldwide'' (Audio Adrenaline album), 2003 * ''Worldwide' ...

's (WCG) founder

Herbert W. Armstrong Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was an American evangelism, evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio evangelism, radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he c ...

and stated that he had begun his attempt after reading an editorial by Armstrong in the June 1967 edition. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' newspaper in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

pictured Rohan on its front page with a copy of ''The Plain Truth'' magazine sticking out from his outside jacket pocket. On 26 September 1969, Armstrong, in a letter to financial contributors to his '' The World Tomorrow'' program, distanced himself from Rohan: Prior to the Rohan incident, in 1968 Armstrong, via WCG's sponsored

Ambassador College Ambassador College (1947–1997) was a four-year liberal arts college run by the Worldwide Church of God. The college was established in 1947 in Pasadena, California, by radio evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong, leader of what was then the Radio Ch ...

, had become involved with the Israeli government in archaeological digs in the area of the Temple Mount.

Allegations of Israeli complicity

Many Muslims alleged Rohan's actions were part of a wider plot by Israelis, while some Israelis have attacked widely-repeated claims by some Palestinians and other Muslims that Rohan was Jewish, when in fact he was Christian. Palestinian officials have alleged that the arson was carried out with the blessing of Israeli authorities and minimize the culpability of Rohan, while Israeli firefighters at the scene later complained that the hostility directed at them by an assembled crowd of Palestinians interfered with their ability to put out the fire.

References

External links

Ambassador Report article (page 16) on Armstrong's response
- Audio and transcript of a ''Background Briefing'' program broadcast on ABC

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...