More than 1,000 Jews have visited the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound on Thursday morning for Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples, according to Israeli Temple Mount activists, with hundreds more expected to arrive in the coming hours.
The compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, it is the most sacred site in Judaism and is Islam’s third-holiest site.
Hundreds of Jews visit Temple Mount for Tisha B’Av prayers
The activists said Israel Police allowed Jewish visitors to pray, sing and prostrate themselves across the compound, in contrast with the status quo in place since 1967. In several cases, visitors were also able to put on tefillin at the site, despite existing procedures.
For years, the status quo at the Temple Mount held that the site was a place of Muslim worship only, with Jews permitted to visit but not conduct religious rituals there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that the site is a place of worship for Muslims and a place of visitation for non-Muslims.
In recent years, however, police have gradually allowed greater flexibility for Jewish groups, including prayer in parts of the compound. Under far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – currently at the Temple Mount, according to footage from the scene – the status quo has increasingly eroded, with Jewish groups receiving greater freedom of action.
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Jewish visitors pray near an entrance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the holy day Tisha B’Av, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Thursday. Credit: mmar Awad/REUTERS
Jewish visitors pray near an entrance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the holy day Tisha B’Av, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Thursday. Credit: mmar Awad/REUTERS
Until now, most Jewish prayers and singing took place in one area in the southeastern part of the compound, away from Palestinian worshippers. On Thursday, police allowed visitors to stop, pray, sing and prostrate themselves throughout the site, including north and west of the Dome of the Rock, areas where many Muslims are present.
Israeli NGO Peace Now said in response: “A direct line connects the rampant settler terrorism, which the prime minister himself described as cancer, and the group of arsonists trying to ignite a religious war.”
Overnight, tens of thousands of people arrived at the Western Wall and participated in marches around the Temple Mount. Police arrested 16 Jewish suspects over alleged damage to a Muslim cemetery near the Lions’ Gate, as well as suspects in incidents involving violence and attacks on Palestinian passersby.