The Israel Police officially bans members of Knesset from entering the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem.
The temporary ban, signed by acting Israel Police commissioner Bentzi Sau, says that visits by MKs to the flashpoint site — holy to both Jews and Muslims — “will exacerbate tensions on the Mount, tensions that will, with a high degree of probability, radiate and have an impact on the security situation throughout the country.”
The Israel Police ban, published on Twitter by Channel 2 correspondent Amit Segal, ratifies an earlier statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proscribing MKs from entering the Mount.
MK Basel Ghattas on the Temple Mount on October 28, 2015. (Courtesy: Joint List)
Netanyahu’s statement, which initially referred to Jewish lawmakers and then — when it faced stiff criticism — extended to Arab MKs, has been challenged by Arab opposition parliamentarians, apparently requiring police to step in and make the prime minister’s instructions official policy.
Palestinian accusations that Israel is seeking to change the arrangements at the Temple Mount and allow Jews to pray there have fueled recent unrest in Israel and the West Bank. Israel denies the allegations.
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 2, 2015
