Jews to be banned from Temple Mount during Ramadan, Ben-Gvir pushes back

“I don’t think at any point the Temple Mount should be closed to Jews,” Ben-Gvir reportedly said during a security cabinet meeting on the matter.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reportedly expressed his opposition to a proposal that Jewish visitors will be banned from the Temple Mount compound during part of the month-long Islamic Ramadan holiday, Kan News reported.

“I don’t think at any point the Temple Mount should be closed to Jews,” Ben-Gvir reportedly said during a security cabinet meeting on the matter. According to Kan, participants in the discussion agreed to resume talks about policies regarding Jewish visitors in the future, closer to the March 2023 start date of Ramadan.

Channel 11 News initially broke the news that the current right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to ban Jews from the Temple Mount for the last 10 days of Ramadan.

Notably, the previous government headed by Naftali Bennett closed the site for only nine days.

Ben-Gvir has been a vocal advocate against the so-called status quo at the Temple Mount compound, which currently sees Jews banned from praying at the compound, which is the holiest site in Judaism.

Jews are allowed to visit the site only when accompanied by armed guards and during limited hours. Supporters of the status quo have argued that the presence of Jews at the site, which is considered the third-holiest site in Islam, offends Muslims.

“Cleansing the Temple Mount of Jews and ending four hours of access during Passover will turn the compound into a hotbed of terrorism, [create opportunities for] archaeological destruction, and endanger police, as it does every year,” said Tom Nissani, head of the Beyadenu NGO that advocates for Jewish prayer rights at the site.

Banning Jews from the site “certainly will not help in any way. The full responsibility for this surrender to terrorism will be in the hands of the ministers of the government and the cabinet. Come to your senses!”

In 2021, Netanyahu banned Jewish visitors from the Temple Mount due to threats from Hamas.

Despite the nearly three-week-long concession forbidding Jews from ascending to the site, Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and southern Israeli communities, triggering the May 2021 Israel-Gaza clash Operation Guardian of the Walls.

Benjamin NetanyahuItamar Ben-GvirRamadanTemple MountTemple Mount riotsTemple Mount violence