Story Plots: Judaea

The holiest site in Judaism is the Temple Mount, the place where the historic Second Temple (and probably the first one too - I'm not certain) was built. The Jewish faith says that when the Messiah comes to save the world, the Third Temple will be rebuilt.

Trouble is, the Temple Mount is now the site of one of Islam's top-five holy places, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock (where Muhammad ascended to Heaven and blah blah blah).

There are some modern Israelis who say that since Israel possesses the Temple Mount, they should destroy Al-Aqsa and build the Third Temple, a move likely to cause war with every muslim nation on the planet. The Israeli government has a number of excuses to not do this, one of which is that only a perfectly red heifer can be sacrificed there - and they don't have a red heifer.

The story of Judaea (is mostly planned to be a flashback, but...) picks up when a team of Israeli genetics experts create a perfectly red heifer and declare the time of the Messiah to be nigh. The upcoming Israeli elections suddenly take a radical swing following mass euphoria amongst many religious and semi-religious Israelis and the newly convened Knesset votes to rebuild the temple. A distressed secular Israeli Air Force commander, the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet, and many secular Israeli army commanders stage a putsch to prevent this (re-basing the government to the more secular area of Tel-Aviv) and deploy paratrooper regiments and air defenses around the temple mount. Much of Israel is outraged by this and the West Bank and significant parts of Eretz Israel break off and form the Republic of Judaea. Jerusalem remains in army control, but a strong Jewish insurgency against the Israeli army builds up, and mortar attacks even begin on the Temple Mount in an attempt to destroy the Dome of the Rock. Palestinians stage a mass uprising in the West Bank but are beaten down by the gloves-off Judaean Army (composed of regiments of the Israeli Army that did not back the coup) and several massacres occur. In response, Syria and Iran attack Judaea. Judaea and Israel sign an accord and beat back the Syrians and Iranians (who distrust each other enough to seriously mess up their war effort), but a continuing battle over Jerusalem ensues. In the end, Judaean rockets fired from the Old City, where even the secular Israeli Army doesn't dare bomb, destroy Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. All Muslim nations attack Israel (all of it, since none recognize Judaea as a country) and most Western nations cut off aid and relations with Israel. Israel cuts a deal with the UN to forfeit the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with international control of the sacred sites. Despite inflicting massive casualties on the attacking Arab forces, Judaea is wiped out, and a Western/Israeli/Arab standoff ensues over Jerusalem. In the end, Israel reverts to a combo of the UN 1947 partition plan and the pre-1967 "Green Line" (with a few modifications like Ma'ale Adummim). Notably, Israel loses control of East and Old Jerusalem, which is to be governed by a UN-created interfaith council. The Israeli Junta resigns and Israel elects a new, secular Knesset.