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Jews banned from Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day as violent clashes continue

The decision to bar Jews from visiting the site sparked outrage among right-wing politicians and community leaders.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Israeli authorities banned Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day as violent clashes between Palestinian rioters and police continued unabated on Monday morning.

Overnight, thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Temple Mount compound, collecting rocks and other ad hoc weapons, police said.

On Monday morning, scores of rioters began hurling rocks at a police outpost and the Mughrabi Bridge, which connects the Western Wall Plaza to the Temple Mount, according to a police statement.

The police entered the Temple Mount to stop the barrage of projectiles, using riot control methods including shooting stun grenades, to disperse the crowds.

Rioters attacked the police, with a video from the scene showing hundreds of people throwing rocks at security forces.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that hundreds of rioters were injured.

The decision to bar Jews from visiting the site sparked outrage among right-wing politicians and community leaders.

Religious Zionism MK Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he would refuse to support his right-wing partners in the Likud party for the next week as an act of protest.

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“Violence and bullying have won. The leaders of the defense establishment are to blame,” he said in a statement. He also slammed “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, who allowed the police to fold.

“Whoever folds on the Temple Mount folds on the entire Land of Israel. I notified the manager of the Likud faction that they shouldn’t call me this week for any vote on laws and regulations. I have no reason to vote this week with those who make decisions of giving in.”

Maor Tzemach, chair of the Your Jerusalem NGO and an advocate for Jewish causes in Jerusalem, told World Israel News that the decision to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount was akin to condoning terror.

“The past few nights, Hamas operatives and Palestinian terrorist organizations, hiding under the auspices of freedom of worship, have organized terror…to secure the Temple Mount and stop Jews from ascending the site on Jerusalem Day,” Tzemach told WIN.

“I call on the Minister of Public Security and the Prime Minister not to allow the occupation of the Temple Mount by terrorist elements and to restore order to the site this morning!”

“This capitulation to terrorism and to the threats of Arab rioters is a low point for the Israeli government,” said the right-wing NGO Im Tirtzu in a statement.

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“A government that is unwilling to protect its law-abiding citizens rewards the aggressors and paves the way for more violence. It is shameful that today of all days, when we celebrate the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the government is relinquishing its sovereignty over the Temple Mount.”