BICOM

A highly-charged Knesset debate took place yesterday over prayer rights at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem after Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces there earlier in the day.

The Temple Mount is holy to both Jews and Muslims. It is where the Jewish Temple was located before its destruction and today is the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque. However, following Israel’s capture of Jerusalem’s Old City during the 1967 Six Day War, Israel placed administration of the Temple Mount under the joint authority of the Jordanian government and the Jerusalem-based Islamic Waqf religious council. Since then, Jews have been banned from praying at the Temple Mount for fear that it would provoke a violent response.

However, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, considered a right-wing figure within the party, has consistently pressed to permit Jewish prayer at the site. He instigated a Knesset debate on the issue yesterday, calling on Israel’s government to establish sovereignty over the Temple Mount. He said that such restrictions on Jewish prayer would be unacceptable elsewhere in the world and that, “Any terrorist organization can wave its flag [at the Temple Mount], but the Israeli flag? It’s unmentionable.” Other MKs who spoke in favour of Feiglin’s initiative included Likud MKs Tzipi Hotovely, Miri Regev and Jewish Home MK Orit Struck.

However, Feiglin’s views were vociferously opposed by several opposition MKs, including Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On who said that the Temple Mount is a powder keg and although “No one doubts that Jews have the right to ascend the Temple Mount,” those who support exercising Israeli sovereignty aim only “to blow up relations between Israel and the Muslim world and torpedo diplomatic negotiations.” Labour MK Nachman Shai added, “I understand the sentiment – everyone wants to go to the Temple Mount – but we have to recognize the facts,” that changing the status quo will be met with a violent response. Indeed, yesterday morning, three Palestinians were arrested and Israeli police officers injured during a riot on the Temple Mount.