Israel reopens Temple Mount

Israel has reopened the Temple Mount after new security measures were introduced at the entrance to the holy site. 

Israel has decided to gradually reopen the Temple Mount to worshippers and visitors after shutting it down on Friday following a terror attack that left two Israeli policemen dead.

In the attack, three Arab terrorists emerged from the Temple Mount and killed two Israeli Druze police officers stationed nearby, prompting Israel’s closure of the holy site.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night held a telephone consultation with the heads of Israel’s security establishment and decided to open the Mount to worshippers, visitors and tourists, beginning Sunday afternoon.

It was further decided that the entrance gates to the Temple Mount would be equipped with metal detectors and that cameras would be installed outside the Mount. These security measures were not in place until until now.

Israeli security forces reportedly swept the Temple Mount over the weekend in search of weapons and other terror-related materials.

Commenting on the current security situation at the site, deputy director of Haliba Movement for Jewish Civil Rights on the Temple Mount, mentioned the fact that there are 10 entrance gates to the Mount for Muslims as opposed to only one for non-Muslims.

At all 10 gates open to Muslims only, there is “no security check whatsoever, only a cursory glance to ensure that no non-Muslim attempts to sneak in,” Olmert, who at times has visited the site several times a week, wrote on Facebook.

On an average day, she says, there is no lineup for the Muslims wishing to enter, while all others are forced to undergo extremely long waits. However, at the gate for the non-Muslims, anybody who looks like a religious Jew is scrutinized and checked down to the last detail.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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