Knesset member urges ‘all Israelis’ to visit Temple Mount

After Jewish members of the Knesset were finally permitted to return to the Temple Mount following an extended ban, Uri Ariel made a plea to the nation to visit Judaism’s holiest site.

Following the highly publicized visit of Knesset member Yehuda Glick to the Temple Mount, another member of the Israeli parliament, Uri Ariel, took the opportunity to urge others to visit the holy site. All Israelis should take the opportunity to visit the Temple Mount, said Uriel according to a report by TPS.

Glick’s visit arrived after a ban was finally lifted that dated back to October 2015, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prohibited such visits.

Ariel is the sitting agriculture minister and served in the 1980s as the first head of the Beit El Regional Council. He has remained a strong advocate for asserting Israeli rights to land in Judea and Samaria, in addition to opposing Muslim appropriation of the Temple Mount site in a way that excludes members of other faiths from worshiping there.

Ariel’s sentiments could also be heard in Glick’s comments immediately following his Temple Mount visit, during which he called the site “a place of peace…cooperation and coexistence.” Glick referred to the Temple Mount as “a house of Prayer for all nations,” a direct quote from the biblical prophet Isaiah.

In stark contrast to the responses of Islamic clergy when Jews attempt to worship on the Temple Mount, a practice that is officially prohibited by the Jordanian Islamic Trust, which administers the site, Glick noted, “I’m happy to see Muslims praying there and I’m happy that Jews went up there peacefully.”

The visits by Glick and MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli took place during a one-day trial to assess potential reactions to such visits in the future.

By: Ebin Sandler, World Israel News