Police remove Jews praying from Temple Mount as hundreds enter complex

Hundreds of Israelis entered the Temple Mount complex on Thursday, according to the Director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar Kiswani, reported the Palestinian WAFA news agency.

WAFA’s English-language website claimed that about 432 Israelis entered the complex, however the news agency’s Arabic-language website put the number at 814 Israelis. WAFA claimed that the Israelis performed “Talmudic rituals and prayers” on the Temple Mount.

Jews are prohibited from praying or bringing religious items onto the Temple Mount and are removed and sometimes detained if caught doing so.

עו”ד אביעד ויסולי, מעורכי-הדין הפעילים ביותר למען הר הבית, מתפלל היום בצהריים בהר הבית.
המזרח התיכון בער? לא נראה לנו.
תפילה וריבונות יהודית בהר הבית – זה הזמן! pic.twitter.com/cnTuSG2P9F

— סטודנטים למען הר הבית (@templemountstud) October 16, 2019

According to the movement, over 650 Jews also entered the Temple Mount complex on Wednesday.  A video posted by the “Students for the Temple Mount” movement on Twitter showed attorney Aviad Visoli praying on the Temple Mount near the western side of the complex as Israeli police demanded that he leave the complex on Wednesday.

יהודי שזכה להשתחוות בהר ה’ לכבוד הרגל נעצר ע”י משטרת ישראל

ההזיה לא עוצרת לרגע pic.twitter.com/arXxhyapCm

— חוזרים להר (@CozrimLahar) October 16, 2019

Another video, tweeted by the “Return to the Mount” movement showed a Jewish Israeli prostrating within the Temple Mount complex before quickly being taken away by Israeli police on Wednesday.

The Waqf, an arm of the Jordanian Ministry of Sacred Properties, administers the Temple Mount site. Visits by religious Jews to the Temple Mount are monitored by Waqf guards and Israeli police – and all Jewish prayer, including silent prayer, is forbidden, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. No sacred Jewish objects, such as prayer books or prayer shawls, may be brought onto the mount, according to the tourism website Tourist Israel.

On Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture and former MK Yehuda Glick entered the Temple Mount complex. Glick tweeted that 1,657 Jewish Israelis had entered the Temple Mount complex during the Sukkot holiday and intermediate days. The Temple Mount is open to Jewish entry Sunday to Thursday from 7:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. and again from 1:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m., according to Tourist Israel. The opening times change in the winter to 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m.

חינוך למצוות!
למעלה מ300 תושבי הר ברכה, נשים גברים וטף, עם רבניהם עלו הבוקר להר הבית לקיום ושמחתם לפני ה’ א-להיכם pic.twitter.com/WeHWzPcFWO

— yehudah glick (@YehudahGlick) October 17, 2019

Israel Police heavily guarded the gates to the complex and checked the identities of Palestinians who were entering on Wednesday, according to Shehab news.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) stated that it holds the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of its “systemic attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

The Jordan Times reported on Wednesday that UNESCO’s Executive Board unanimously endorsed a draft resolution that calls on Israel to “halt all illegal unilateral procedures and violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and in the Old City,” according to Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sufian Qudah.

The resolution and its appendix stress all the components of Jordan’s stance on the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls, including Muslim and Christian holy sites, according to the Jordan Times.

Safa reported that there has been a “marked escalation” in the frequency of visits by Israeli Jews and “extremist calls to storm [Al-Aqsa] during the Jewish holidays amid tight restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities on the Palestinians.”

On Monday, Jordanian House of Representatives and president of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, Atef Tarawneh, warned that the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan is “under threat, in light of the blatant violation of its terms, especially with the issue of Jerusalem,” according to Jordan’s government news agency.

Last week the Hamas terrorist organization released an official statement condemning Israeli incursions onto the Temple Mount, saying that Israel was “playing with fire” and would pay a price for their “provocations” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hamas called on the international community to intervene and pressure Israel to stop its “violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Palestine.” The terrorist group called on Palestinians to mobilize and defend the mosque.