Tel Aviv [Israel], April 17 (ANI/TPS): A record number of Jews visited the Temple Mount during the Passover holiday, an organization working to strengthen Jewish ties to the Jerusalem holy site announced on Thursday.
According to Beyadenu, 6,788 Jews visited the Temple Mount over the five days during Passover that the holy site was open to Jews.
“The rights of Jews on the Temple Mount are advancing too slowly in relation to the progress among the Israeli public, across its various sectors, which is reconnecting with the Temple Mount,” said Beyadenu CEO Tom Nisani.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Knesset member Zvi Sukkot visited the site openly praying and prostrating himself, defying a long-standing status quo.
The Religious Zionism lawmaker said his last visit to the holy site was 14 years ago when he was arrested for praying there.
“Today, Jews prostrate themselves, pray with a [quorum of 10], and the Waqf doesn’t come near us,” he said, referring to the Islamic Waqf which administers the Temple Mount.
The visit drew praise from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, who claimed credit for shifting the long-standing status quo that bars non-Muslim prayer at the site.
“What wasn’t done for 30 years is being done on my watch,” Ben-Gvir said. “I’m happy to see MK Zvi Sukkot, like many thousands, prostrating and praying at the Temple Mount.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Jewish prayer is not officially permitted at the site. However, the police, who are responsible for enforcing the ban, fall under the purview of Ben-Gvir as National Security Minister. Ben-Gvir has also advocated Jewish worship at the holy site for years.
The Temple Mount, where the First and Second Jewish Temples were built, is the overall holiest site in Judaism.
The delicate status quo governing the Temple Mount goes back to 1967 when Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War. Fearing a religious war, then-defense minister Moshe Dayan agreed to let the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim trusteeship, continue managing the holy site’s day-to-day affairs, while Israel would maintain overall sovereignty and be responsible for security. The Waqf is overseen by the Jordanian monarchy.
According to the status quo, while non-Muslims are allowed to visit the Temple Mount, they are not allowed to pray there.
Rabbis are increasingly divided over Jews ascending to the Temple Mount. For centuries, the widespread rabbinic consensus was that laws of ritual purity still apply to the site, restricting Jews from visits. But in recent years, a growing number of rabbis have argued that ritual purity laws don’t apply to all sections of the holy site and encourage visits to permitted areas to maintain Jewish connections to the Mount Temple Mount.
The Western Wall, the holiest spot where Jews can pray, is the only remnant of a retaining wall encircling the Temple Mount built by Herod the Great in the first century. (ANI/TPS)
