Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, prayed at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and called on the Israeli public to visit the site.
Wasserlauf told local media he visited Judaism’s holiest site “to give thanks for the miracles and to pray for the people of Israel, for Israel Defense Forces soldiers and for the recovery of all the wounded.”
The visit came ahead of Jerusalem Day, celebrated on Thursday and Friday, which commemorates the reunification of the capital during the 1967 Six-Day War, an event of profound historical and religious significance for the Jewish people, returning all of the city to Jewish rule for the first time in nearly 2,000 years.
Wasserlauf in his remarks urged the public to visit the Temple Mount to experience what he described as a “revolution” led there by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose office oversees the Israel Police.
“Jews no longer walk around the Mount like thieves and no longer need to hide. It is moving every single time to see many Jews praying and prostrating on the Temple Mount, the holiest site for the Jewish people,” the right-wing lawmaker stated.
The 1967 status quo agreement with the Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf that manages the mosque built on the ruins of the Jewish Temples has increasingly been tested in recent years, with Jewish rights activists pushing the boundaries and police at times appearing to tolerate visible prayer, in particular since Ben-Gvir took office in 2022.
Earlier this year, the Israel Police for the first time allowed “guidance sheets” for Jewish prayer to be brought onto the Temple Mount, in what some described as a deviation from the status quo.
In February, Israeli authorities extended morning visiting hours for Jewish worshipers by one hour during Ramadan, marking the first such move during the Islamic holy month.
The Beyadenu—Returning to the Temple Mount NGO on Monday called on the Israel Police to allow Jews to ascend the Mount to mark Jerusalem Day on Friday, a day on which the site is routinely closed to Jewish visitors under current arrangements with the Waqf.
The demand received backing from government ministers and Knesset lawmakers, the organization said in a press release.
“It is unacceptable that on the very day marking the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Jewish access to the holiest site in Judaism would be completely denied due to a standing arrangement that fails to address this unique circumstance,” Beyadenu wrote in a letter to Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and Jerusalem District Cmdr. Avshalom Peled.
The group called on the police to allow Jewish visits during the day on Friday, or alternatively to permit ascension on Thursday night as a “proportional and appropriate solution under the circumstances.”
