Police discriminate between secular, religious Jews visiting Temple Mount

Police officers are treating Jewish visitors differently according to their level of religious observance as determined by their appearance, a Channel 2 investigative report finds.

In a segment showed by the TV station this evening, a secular person enters the Temple Mount after a short security check and is told he can walk freely anywhere in the compound except entering mosques. The man is a Channel 2 employee.

He then returns wearing a white shirt, large white kippa and tzitzit, traditional clothing of a national-religious Jew.

This time, he cannot enter alone but is told to join two other religious Israelis. They enter the mount accompanied by officers wearing full riot gear.

The station repeats the experiment with a secular female student who is again told she can walk wherever she wants except enter mosques.

When the Channel 2 reporter himself wants to enter the Temple Mount, he is again told to join other religious visitors and enters the site with police accompaniment.

According to the report, the religious visitors, unlike their secular counterparts, are told not to stop, not to make any lip movement that may be seen as praying. They are not allowed to stop, sit down and their pace is determined by the cops.

Police in response said: “There is no difference in security checks, on freedom of movement and in other procedures between tourists and Jews. Israel Police is enforcing the law in an egalitarian way, with no discrimination based on religion, gender or race. Regarding the Temple Mount, we are investing efforts and resources in order to maintain the status quo, our goal is to enable visits and are working with determination for that end.”