Breaching status quo, Ben Gvir says it’s his policy to let Jews pray on Temple Mount

In an apparent breach of the longstanding status quo on the Temple Mount, ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir tells Radio Galei Israel that his policy is to allow Jewish prayer at the contested Jerusalem holy site.

“I am also happy that Jews went up to the Temple Mount and prayed there today,” said the minister, who took part in the annual Jerusalem Day flag march through the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. “It is very important. My policy is very clear on this matter, Jews can be anywhere in Jerusalem, pray anywhere.”

Asked if prayers are not conducted only informally, in a whisper, Ben Gvir said: “No, no, no, no one whispered. Jews prayed on the Temple Mount. That’s the ministerial position and Jews pray on the Temple Mount and that’s a good thing.”

The Temple Mount — known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary — in Jerusalem’s Old City is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. It is also the holiest place in Judaism, as the site of the two Biblical temples.

Muslims are allowed to pray and enter the compound with few restrictions, while the Israeli government enforces strict rules on non-Muslim visitors, including Jews who can visit only during limited time slots via a single gate and are not officially allowed to pray, although police frequently tolerate limited prayer.

Addressing the media at the Damascus Gate following today’s march, Ben Gvir spoke in a similar vein, stating that he wanted to convey a message to Palestinians who keep pictures of the mount in their homes.

They hang “pictures of the Temple Mount and there are pictures of Jerusalem, and we tell them our Jerusalem. Our Nablus gate. Our Temple Mount,” he said.

“Today, according to my policy, Jews entered the Old City freely. And on the Temple Mount Jews prayed freely. We say in the simplest way, it’s ours.”