Coalition MKs demand Netanyahu examine police conduct toward Temple Mount visitors

A list of coalition MKs have sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Police chief Kobi Shabtai demanding an examination of the treatment of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount by police officers.

The letter, spearheaded by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman — and signed by several Likud MKs — claims that Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount last week were physically hit by police officers and had their phones and cameras confiscated.

The letter says that “such a reality, after 2,000 years of exile, cannot happen in the Jewish state,” and calls for convening the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss the issue “if necessary.”

Jewish visits to the flashpoint site have long been a contentious and highly charged issue, at times sparking a significant escalation with the Palestinians. Under the status quo, Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the site, the holiest location in Judaism, although some groups seek to circumvent those rules.