From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Jordan fumes over ‘flagrant violation’ as thousands of Jews visit Temple Mount
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Jordan strongly condemns the visit by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and thousands of other Jews to the Temple Mount for Tisha B’Av prayers today.
A spokesman for Amman’s foreign ministry calls the visit “a flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo” at the flashpoint site, condemning “continued, unacceptable incursions by ministers, Knesset members, and extremist settlers,” and also slamming Israeli police for “facilitating these actions.”
The ministry calls the compound “a place of worship exclusively for Muslims” and urges the international community “to adopt a firm position” compelling Israel to halt such activities.
The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issues a similarly worded condemnation.
Police have so far permitted some 3,000 Jewish worshipers to visit the site, with many bringing Tisha B’Av liturgy materials with them.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was seen with a prayer book and worshiped openly at the site, along with hundreds of others, after having done the same on the fast day last year.
The Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism, where two biblical Temples once stood, and Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest shrine in Islam, making the site a central flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel captured the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s Old City from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. However, it allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to maintain religious authority atop the mount. Under their 1994 peace treaty, Israel recognized Amman’s “special role… in Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem.”
The Times of Israel Community.