Some 1,000 Jews ascend Temple Mount for Sukkot, openly pray at flashpoint holy site

By Stav Levaton

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27 September 2026, 3:08 pm

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

Jewish men covered in prayer shawls hold the Four Species as they take part in morning prayers during the holiday of Sukkot at the entrance to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, September 27, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Some 1,000 Jews, including a far-right member of Knesset, visit the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem to mark the holiday of Sukkot, with footage showing some openly praying at the flashpoint holy site.

Jews are officially barred from praying at the mount, which was the location of the two Jewish holy temples in ancient times and is Judaism’s holiest site. Muslims revere the mount as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Israel maintains overall security at the site, while the Waqf, an Islamic body, administers religious activities.

But National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Police, has repeatedly declared that Jewish prayer is now allowed at the site, despite statements to the contrary from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Beyadenu, an organization dedicated to cementing a Jewish presence at the Temple Mount, says hundreds of worshippers are making a pilgrimage to the compound today, singing and celebrating Sukkot.

The group says worshippers are praying with the Four Species – the quartet of palm, willow, myrtle and citron used ritually during Sukkot – and that it has received no reports of arrests.

Videos circulating online show large groups of Jewish worshippers praying in the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City just outside the Temple Mount, while other footage shows Jews openly praying inside the compound.

MK Yitzhak Kroizer of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party also posts footage of himself at the site, saying he had gone there to pray and celebrate Sukkot, as well as mark two years since the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“Precisely today, when we have proven to our enemies the strength of the people of Israel, it is important to continue strengthening our presence and sovereignty in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount,” Kroizer says.

Hundreds of Jewish worshippers also ascended the Temple Mount and openly prayed there during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur earlier this month.