Defying Netanyahu, Israeli minister prays on Temple Mount

Israel’s National Security Minister prays on Temple Mount during Tisha B’Av fast, declares his ministry permits Jewish prayer on the holy site, drawing rebuke from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Dozens of Jewish worshippers who ascended the Temple Mount and prayed at the holy site during the Tisha B’Av fast day Tuesday were detained for questioning, amid a rift within the Israeli government over Jewish prayer on the Mount.

Some 1,500 Jews ascended the Temple Mount during the fast Tuesday, which marks the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Among the visitors were three lawmakers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev, and the Galilee Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit), and MK Amit Halevi (Likud).

During their visit, Ben-Gvir and Wasserlauf were filmed praying – despite standing orders from the Israeli government banning Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

Forty other Jewish visitors to the Mount also publicly prayed at the holy site. Police detained the 40 worshippers for questioning, releasing 29 of them with warnings and arresting 11.

During his visit, Ben-Gvir reiterated his claim that his ministry’s policy is to permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

“We are on Tisha B’Av, the Temple Mount, coming to mark the destruction of the Temple,” said Ben-Gvir.

“But it needs to be said with sincerity: there is very significant progress here in the governance, in the sovereignty. As I have said, our policy is to enable prayer.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement later on Tuesday, rebuking Ben-Gvir and emphasizing that the government’s position opposing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount has not changed.

“It is the Government and the Prime Minister who determine policy on the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu said.

“There is no private policy of any minister – not the National Security Minister or any other minister – on the Temple Mount. Thus it has been under all governments of Israel.”

“This morning’s incident on the Temple Mount deviated from the status quo. Israel’s policy on the Temple Mount has not changed; this is how it has been and this is how it will be.”

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu over government policy vis-a-vis non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount.

As minister charged with governing the police department, Ben-Gvir announced in June that Jews would be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount.

“Today, according to my policy, Jews entered the Old City freely, and they also prayed freely on the Temple Mount,” Ben-Gvir said.

Later that day, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement rejecting Ben-Gvir’s comments.

‘The status quo at the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”

In July, Ben-Gvir again defied Netanyahu over government policy regarding the Temple Mount.

“I was at the Temple Mount last week. I prayed at the Temple Mount and we are praying at the Temple Mount. I am in the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.”

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, long opposed to Jewish visitation of the Temple Mount, condemned Ben-Gvir Tuesday, with United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni saying the minister’s actions brought “harm to the Temple Mount’s sanctity and the status quo.”

Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) derided Ben-Gvir’s visit as an “unnecessary provocation to the [non-Jewish] nations of the world.”