The top government official tasked with battling the coronavirus pandemic has admitted that Israel has given up enforcing the coronavirus restrictions at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, even though mass prayers are being held there every Friday, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The Temple Mount is an ultra-sensitive compound in the Old City, the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest for Muslims, who refer to it as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or the Noble Sanctuary. It is administered by the Jordanian-controlled Waqf, and any attempt by Israel to demonstrate sovereignty there risks a diplomatic crisis with Amman.
Kan broadcasts a recording of a conversation Ash had over the weekend with a senior IDF Home Front Command officer in charge of overseeing the virus response in East Jerusalem. The conversation focused on a Muslim prayer held Friday with some 18,000 worshipers.
“We have no solution, we have nothing to do with it,” Ash is heard saying. “We have holes in our net that are impossible to patch.”
Another unsolvable “hole” mentioned by Ash is the continued entry of Israeli citizens to West Bank areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control. Such entry was banned more than a month ago, but is proving hard to enforce.
Palestinians gesture during a protest against comments by French President Emmanuel Macron defending cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, on October 30, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
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