Haredi parties mull bolting coalition as Ben Gvir pushes Jewish prayer on Temple Mount
Paper aligned with UTJ urges MKs to reconsider place in government, claiming far-right minister’s visit to flashpoint site ‘endangers Jewish lives,’ goes against halachic ruling
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s contentious visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Tuesday continued to stir up lawmakers on Wednesday, with ultra-Orthodox parties raising the possibility of bolting the coalition over the far-right minister’s approval of Jewish prayer at the site.
In a front-page item published Tuesday morning, an influential newspaper aligned with United Torah Judaism (UTJ) called on the Haredi party to reconsider its place in the government, claiming that Ben Gvir had “endangered Jewish lives” by visiting the flashpoint site on the solemn Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av.
The uproar began when some of the Jewish visitors were filmed — including in the background of footage shared by Ben Gvir — praying and prostrating themselves, in violation of both police instructions and the unwritten status quo governing the compound, the holiest site in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam.
The vague status quo allows Muslims to pray and enter the compound in Jerusalem’s Old City with few restrictions, while non-Muslims, including Jews, can visit only during limited time slots via a single gate, and cannot pray. Visibly religious Jews are only allowed to walk on a predetermined route, closely accompanied by police, long drawing accusations of discrimination and violation of freedom of worship from right-wing activists.
Palestinians often claim Israel wishes to assert greater control over the Mount, and the issue is seen as a particularly sensitive one, with explosive potential for the region. Israeli security officials view violations of the status quo as having the potential to set off mass unrest. The Temple Mount has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, and tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence.
“Jews going up to the Temple Mount is like throwing a match into an oil well,” the Yated Ne’eman daily’s editorial said. “The Temple Mount may turn into a volcano that covers the entire Middle East with ash.”
Like the UTJ and Shas parties, the newspaper follows the Haredi school of thought that contends Jews may not ascend Temple Mount — the site of the two destroyed Temples — as its holiness precludes setting foot there nowadays.
The editorial urged UTJ to examine whether it can continue serving as a partner in a governing coalition that includes Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party, saying he cannot be allowed to continue “endangering us all.”
On Tuesday, in what would be a rare partnership sparked by Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount, Channel 12 reported that Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Shas leader Aryeh Deri have discussed cooperating on a resolution affirming a halachic ruling from the Chief Rabbinate dating back to 1967, according to which Jews are forbidden from ascending the holy site.
The two party chairs, who according to the report had not spoken in over a decade, were said to agree that Deri would back a nonbinding Knesset resolution sponsored by Lapid’s Yesh Atid party in the next Knesset session.
Other ultra-Orthodox lawmakers also came out against Ben Gvir on Tuesday, with MK Moshe Gafni threatening that his Degel HaTorah faction of the UTJ party would have to “check with our rabbis whether we can be partners with him, and will clarify this to the prime minister as well.”
Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) also reiterated the Chief Rabbinate’s stance against Jewish visits to the site due to its holiness, adding that it constituted “unnecessary provocation to nations around the world.”
Ben Gvir, who was joined at the site by fellow Otzma Yehudit minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, had filmed a video at the scene, saying over background calls of “Shema Yisrael”: “There is great progress here on [matters of Israeli] sovereignty and rule, images of Jews praying here as I’ve said. Our policy is to allow prayer.”
The visit sparked a terse condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly said that Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount remains prohibited, though in practice police did not appear to take any action to stop overt prayers and prostrating seen in videos from Tuesday.
Ben Gvir brushed off the reprimand, replying in a defiant statement: “The national security minister’s policy is to enable freedom of worship for Jews in all places, including the Temple Mount, and Jews will continue to do so in the future as well.”
It was the third time the national security minister made such a claim while visiting the Mount, with the Prime Minister’s Office being repeatedly forced to issue denials that this was Israel’s policy.
Wasserlauf on Wednesday claimed that the Tisha B’Av visit to the Temple Mount had been approved by Netanyahu ahead of time.
“I coordinated it with all necessary authorities. Two weeks ago I contacted the prime minister, sent him a letter, and requested to visit the Temple Mount. By the way, I’ve been doing it since the day I entered the government. I ascend [the Temple Mount] on Jerusalem Day and Tisha B’Av.”
The Otzma Yehudit MK noted that the letter was more of an update than a request and that as he didn’t receive a response, it was understood that there was no opposition to the visit.
Despite Netanyahu’s stated position backing the vague status quo at the flashpoint site, several Likud MKs on Tuesday echoed Ben Gvir’s assertion that Jews should be able to pray “anywhere in Jerusalem.”
“All religions are allowed to pray anywhere in Jerusalem — this is how we have always maintained the status quo and the Muslims will have to accept it,” firebrand Likud MK Nissim Vaturi said in an interview with Army Radio.
Fellow Likud MK Boaz Bizmuth agreed, declaring in his own interview with Army Radio: “The time has come to stop discriminating against Jews in 2024, to allow entry to a holy place over which we have sovereignty. Everyone wants a Middle East free of discrimination and racism — here is an example of that.”
Ben Gvir’s latest visit drew sharp condemnation from both Muslim and Arab countries as well as Western powers, including the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Palestinian and Arab leaders view the uptick in Jewish visits as a violation of the status quo in and of itself, with Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority quickly issuing statements on Tuesday condemning the “provocation.”
The US State Department criticized Ben Gvir’s announcement and visit to the flashpoint site, which it said was liable to harm Israeli security and set the region aflame amid already sky-high tensions.
Agencies contributed to this report.
