JERUSALEM, Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to close the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors for the last 10 days of Ramadan (which ends April 21st), heeding the advice of his defense minister and police and intelligence agencies, but not the counsel of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who opposed the decision.
Although groups of Palestinian Muslim men – supported by Iran and Hamas – instigated clashes with police last week by refusing to leave the Al-Aqsa Mosque in time for morning prayers, the holy site has been relatively quiet for a few days. Israeli leaders often closed the area in recent years to reduce the chances of violence.
The government issued a statement saying that the decision to keep Jewish visitors away from the site was made “on the unanimous recommendation of the Defense Minister, the IDF Chief of Staff, the Director of the ISA and the Israel Police Inspector General.”
Ben-Gvir argued the closure “may only enhance” the possibility of violence, not reduce it. He insisted, “The absence of Jews on the Temple Mount will automatically lead to the dilution of the police forces on the Mount, which will create fertile ground for huge demonstrations of incitement to murder Jews, and even a scenario of throwing rocks at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall.”
He added, “When terrorism strikes us – we must strike back with tremendous force, not surrender to it and its whims.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, Jewish visits to the Temple Mount during the interim days of the 8-day Pesach holiday were up nearly a third over last year under the previous Israeli government. More than 3,000 Jewish pilgrims ascended to Judaism’s holiest site.
Netanyahu ordered that Israeli security forces be in place in sufficient numbers to ensure security at the Western Wall and other places in the Old City where Israelis gather for the final hours of the Passover, which ends Wednesday evening.
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