Report: Security chiefs warn Jewish prayer on Temple Mount could trigger upsurge in West Bank, Jerusalem violence

Israel’s security chiefs have reportedly warned the political leadership that Palestinian anger over overt Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount threatens to trigger a major escalation of violence against Israel in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The security establishment has waved “a red flag” to alert the political echelon to the growing danger, Channel 12 reports.

The TV report says the security establishment is concerned that the police are not enforcing the “status quo” that outlaws Jewish prayer at the contested holy site, that prayer is now routinely tolerated, and that some Jewish worshippers prostrate themselves in prayer on the Mount.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has said repeatedly in recent weeks and months that his policy is to allow Jewish prayer, and been repeatedly contradicted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insists that the decades-old status quo remains in force. But the current situation atop the Temple Mount is one in which the police are enabling a “de facto change” to the status quo, the TV report notes.

Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism as the site of the two Biblical temples, and the site of the third holiest shrine in Islam.

The report says the security warning highlighted the particularly dangerous period in the days ahead of the High Holidays when many Jews go to the Mount.

Iran and its proxies are pushing hard to inflame the West Bank, with funding and weaponry, the report says.

It cites an increase in warnings of specific attacks in and from the West Bank, saying there have been 47 such warnings in recent days. While the  IDF and Shin Bet are working to thwart such attacks, the security establishment is urging the political echelon to take steps to help “stabilize” the situation.

The IDF has already allocated significant resources to the West Bank, but there is concern that a worsening of the situation would require the allocation of primary resources to that front, with harmful implications for the war in Gaza, the north, and Israeli deterrence against Iran.