Open Jewish prayer, prostration on Temple Mount now ‘routine,’ activists say
In recent weeks police are no longer preventing or penalizing acts at holy site as Ben Gvir pushes practice, and are allowing them on a daily basis
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Open prayer and prostration on the Temple Mount by Jewish worshipers is now a matter of routine and permitted by the police on a daily basis, activists for prayer rights at the holy site have said.
The practice was witnessed during a visit to the Temple Mount by The Times of Israel on Wednesday, where an afternoon prayer service was conducted out loud. Activists say the prayers take place during morning and afternoon services every day.
The prostrations are conducted on the eastern side of the Temple Mount esplanade, out of sight of Muslim worshipers, but in full view of police who accompany Jews during their visits, and who previously did not allow such prayers under the decades-old, vague status quo regarding conduct on the Temple Mount.
Prostration on the Temple Mount is considered a special form of religious worship and even a distinct religious commandment in the right spot on the site, which is why the ability to carry out the practice has been welcomed enthusiastically by Temple Mount activists.
Prior to August 13 this year, police would in general detain and remove Jewish and any non-Muslim visitors engaging in demonstrative prayer such as prostration. A police officer briefing visitors before their visit would also instruct them not to engage in demonstrative prayer.
But such instructions are now no longer given, it appears.
The new practice first gained attention on August 13, which this year was the date of the Jewish Fast of the Ninth of Av, when worshipers who visited the Temple Mount at the same time as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir prostrated themselves and prayed out loud. Police did not detain or remove any of the worshipers who engaged in such demonstrative prayer.
Ben Gvir insisted then and subsequently that his policy, as the minister with authority over the police, was to allow Jewish prayer at the site. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to play down the development, asserting that there had been no change to the status quo. But Ben Gvir brushed off his protestations, and prayers have continued uninterrupted.
One key Temple Mount activist who has been involved in lobbying for greater Jewish prayer rights at the site for many years told The Times of Israel that although the changes since August 13 were “substantive,” he did not believe they constituted a change in the status quo.
Discreet Jewish prayer has been permitted by the police since at least 2018, during the tenure of Gilad Erdan as police minister. According to the activist, who wished to remain anonymous, that move was the real change to the status quo in recent years.
He added that along with the ability to prostrate oneself, the police also permit prayer with singing and dancing on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, although this reporter did not witness such activity during Wednesday’s visit.
At the beginning of the visit, a group of some 30 people, mostly men but including some women and children, ascended to the Mughrabi Gate from the entrance to the Western Wall plaza singing, “And they will prostrate themselves to God on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” — a verse from the Biblical book of Isaiah.
As is the general procedure for Jewish visitors ascending during visiting hours for non-Muslims, the group was taken by a police escort around the Temple Mount counter-clockwise from the southwestern corner of the plaza to the eastern side.
Upon arriving there, numerous members of the group bowed down facing west to where the sanctuary of the ancient Jewish temples was located, in full view of police.
The worshipers also prostrated themselves during the afternoon prayer service which they conducted, with the relevant parts of the service performed out loud. Two activist rabbis then gave short lessons lasting a few minutes each, before the police instructed the group to conclude the visit, coming around the northern end of the site and out through the Chain Gate.
Veteran Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yitzhak Brand, who, unusually for such activists, is ultra-Orthodox (most Haredim oppose visits to the site), gave one of the lessons, noting the ability to perform prostration without restriction since August 13.
“We must give thanks to God that we have now merited greater closeness to God. Prostration is already a special form of worship on the Temple Mount and the site of the Temple, and this is another stage in the redemption,” Brand told the group of worshipers.
Rabbi Ofer Elyashiv, another ultra-Orthodox activist who has been visiting the Temple Mount for just a few years, also extolled the new-found liberty to bow down at the holy site and, like Brand, insisted it was another step toward the final redemption.
“The completion of the ingathering of the exiles is prostration [on the Temple Mount]. On the Ninth of Av, an opening was created by God… and prostration was formally allowed on the Temple Mount,” said Elyashiv.
“Everything begins slowly. We are beginning to build the infrastructure for the Temple.”
Speaking on Army Radio on Monday, Ben Gvir — a longtime proponent of Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount predating his time in politics — insisted that Israeli law does not discriminate between the religious rights of Jews and Muslims at the Temple Mount, which is considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.
מסר חשוב מהר הבית, בתשעה באב: pic.twitter.com/9GYa5CZHHw
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 13, 2024
“The policies on the Temple Mount allow prayer, period,” Ben Gvir said. “You are allowed to pray; it’s illegal to prevent you from praying.”
Asked if he would put a synagogue on the site if he could, he answered, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
In response to Ben Gvir’s comments, Netanyahu issued an oft-repeated statement insisting that there was “no change to the official status quo on the Temple Mount,” but avoided mentioning his ultranationalist coalition partner by name.
The unwritten status quo at the site in the past provided few restrictions on Muslim prayer and access to the Temple Mount and its Islamic holy sites, while non-Muslims, including Jews, were not allowed to pray and could only visit during limited time slots via a single entrance to the site.
Police began allowing discreet Jewish prayer around 2018, although the restrictions on access to the site for non-Muslims have remained in place.
Israeli security officials view changes at the Temple Mount as having the potential to set off mass unrest, as the Temple Mount has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, and tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has increasingly clashed with Ben Gvir in recent months, has accused the minister of endangering Israel with his comments.
“Ben Gvir’s actions endanger Israel’s national security and its international standing,” Gallant wrote on X on Monday.
Ben Gvir fired back, accusing Gallant of “bowing to Hamas and dragging the State of Israel into a reckless deal,” in reference to proposals for a hostage release deal and ceasefire agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report
