Influential Israeli rabbi calls for synagogue to be built on Temple Mount

“For 2,000 years we were in exile, so they built this structure here, but in truth, the First Temple and Second Temple were here, and the Third Temple will be here.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu called on the Israeli government to approve construction of a synagogue on the Temple Mount, arguing that current restrictions on Jewish worship at the site deny Jews equal religious access compared to other faiths.

Rabbi Eliyahu made the remarks during Jerusalem Day events in comments delivered opposite the Temple Mount, where he urged the Knesset to change longstanding policies governing Jewish prayer at the site.

At the same time, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has taken steps that have altered longstanding arrangements at the site by integrating Jewish prayer into police guidelines and permitting more open worship practices.

According to current regulations, Jews are permitted to visit the Temple Mount under limited and controlled conditions but are prohibited from openly praying or displaying religious rituals under the traditional status quo arrangement.

Rabbi Eliyahu said the prohibition on Jewish worship should end and called for establishment of a Jewish house of worship on the compound.

“You see the here the mosque that is behind me, Al-Aqsa – that is from the exile,” Rabbi Eliyahu said while referring to structures on the site.

“For 2,000 years we were in exile, so they built this structure here, but in truth, the First Temple and Second Temple were here, and the Third Temple will be here. That is a fact,” he added.

The proposal echoed a position advanced during the mid-1990s by Rabbi Eliyahu’s father, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

The remarks renewed debate in Israel over Jewish prayer rights and access policies at the Temple Mount, one of the most sensitive religious sites in Jerusalem.

Ben-Gvir declared that Israel had “restored sovereignty” on the Temple Mount during a Jerusalem Day visit to the holy site Thursday, ahead of the annual Flag March through Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Security Minister ascended the Temple Mount in the Old City and said the site was now “in our hands,” linking what he described as increased Israeli control to security policies implemented during his tenure.

Prior to the Flag March, Ben-Gvir declared that he had “restored sovereignty on the Temple Mount thanks to determination and deterrence.”