fbpx

News

Netanyahu bans ministers and MKs from Temple Mount

[ssba]

Widespread Israeli media reports say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered police to ban government ministers and Knesset members from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, to reduce the chances of further escalating violence.

The Temple Mount, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims, has been an emotive focal point for violence during the past few weeks. Palestinian youths have routinely barricaded themselves inside the al-Aqsa Mosque armed with firebombs, rocks and other projectiles and clashed with Israeli forces. Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel does not wish to alter the status quo at the site, which sees Jewish prayer banned.

With the unrest seemingly intensifying yesterday, as seven Israelis were injured in five separate attacks, Netanyahu instructed Israel’s police chief to ban government ministers and Knesset members from the Temple Mount until further notice. A recent visit to the Temple Mount by Jewish Home’s Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel was considered provocative by many Palestinians and also drew a sharp response from Jordan, which maintains an administrative role at the site.

Maariv says that the move is an attempt by Netanyahu to “calm tempers,” while Haaretz speculates that he made his intentions clear over the issue to the security cabinet on Monday night. Maariv notes that Netanyahu has previously banned former-Likud MK Moshe Feiglin from the Temple Mount for fear that his visits would spark violence.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas also appeared yesterday to attempt to calm tensions. He told Haaretz that although he supports a “popular, non-violent struggle,” that he opposes “all violence and use of weapons. I’ve made clear a number of times that I don’t want to return to the cycle of violence.” Abbas has previously issued incendiary rhetoric, including a slur that Israelis defile the Temple Mount with “filthy feet.”