After Ben-Gvir’s Temple Mount visit, activist group requests permission to bring Passover sacrifice

Will Israel’s national security minister agree to Temple Mount activists’ call to allow Passover sacrifice at the Jerusalem holy site?

By World Israel News Staff

A group of Temple Mount activists are lobbying the government to increase Jewish rights on the Jerusalem holy site, following a visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount, escorted by police, bodyguards, and a small retinue of supporters.

The visit, Ben-Gvir’s first since he took office last Thursday, sparked criticism from the U.S. State Department, the British consulate in Jerusalem and across the Arab world, with the United Nations planning a Security Council meeting to discuss the visit.

However, the Return to the Mount organization, which advocates in favor of expanded Jewish access to the Temple Mount, said it was encouraged by Ben-Gvir’s visit and now hopes the newly minted minister will agree to their request to bring a Passover sacrifice at the holy site this coming spring.

“On one hand, we are very, very happy that Itamar Ben-Gvir did not cave in to Hamas and ascended the Temple Mount,” Rafael Morris, a leader of Return to the Mount, told Channel 13 Tuesday night.

“But on the other hand, this is not the way a visit by a minister in the Israeli government should look. It should have been with red carpet, accompanied by masses of Israelis; not like thieves in the night, coming in early then quickly going out at 7:13 in the morning.”

“For years now we’ve been pushing to bring the Passover sacrifice, one of the most important commandments.”

“It is a commandment that we have been praying to be able to carry out for 2,000 years. We can fulfill it today, we need to fulfill it. Failure to do so is comparable to being uncircumcised.”

Morris expressed optimism that Ben-Gvir will approve his organization’s request, noting the minister’s support for Return to the Mount in the past.

“Itamar Ben-Gvir was active with us for many years. And now, finally, we have a totally right-wing government. So let’s move this forward just a little further and establish facts on the ground so that we can stay here.”

We can “build a small altar in an open space, and we need kohanim [priests] and priestly garments, both of which we have.”

“We’ve been practicing this for years,” Morris continued, emphasizing that the only thing preventing the resumption of the ancient ritual is police opposition.

Turning to threats issued by Hamas and warnings from Turkey regarding a possible escalation if the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount increases, Morris downplayed concerns, predicting that “nothing will happen.”

“This fear that the Temple Mount will explode, that it is a tinderbox – that is a total lie,” he said.

“When we give in, that is what emboldens terrorists. When Hamas makes threats and we give in, we always see a rise in terrorism afterwards.”

Itamar Ben-GvirRafael MorrisTemple Mount