Islamic Waqf's Sovereignty On Temple Mount Is 'Over', Israel Will Now Work To Reestablish Jewish Sovereignty

Islamic Waqf’s Sovereignty on Temple Mount Is “Over”, Says Government Minister

The Islamic Waqf’s jurisdiction over the Temple Mount is over and Israel will now work to reestablish Jewish sovereignty over the holy site, said Knesset Member Ari Dichter (Likud) on Tuesday.

“Israel is the sovereign on the Temple Mount, period. The fact that the Waqf became a sovereign on the Temple Mount ended last Friday,” declared Dichter, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on Israeli public radio, Israel National News reported.

“The question of our policy [at the Temple Mount] may not be clear to the Palestinians, but it is very clear to us… The Mount will remain under the control of the Israel Police.”

The move comes in the wake of the events of last Friday, when three Palestinian terrorists used the holy site to launch a terror attack against Israeli forces, killing two Israeli police officers. Israel closed the Temple Mount to all visitors in its aftermath, sparking Muslim outrage worldwide. 

However, when the site was reopened on Sunday, Muslim visitors recoiled at new security measures instituted as a result of the attack and refused to enter in protest. The measures include the installation of metal detectors at the entrances used by Muslim worshipers. Waqf officials balked, refusing to ascend to the site and calling for a widespread boycott.

A Waqf statement released on Monday urged Muslims “to reject and boycott all the Israeli aggression measures, including changing the historical status quo including imposing the metal detectors.”

The so-called “status quo”, an unwritten agreement on governance of the site by which Israel abides, forbids Jewish prayer on the Mount so as not to agitate Muslims. However, as a result of the Waqf ban, Jews are free to ascend to the Temple Mount without a hostile Waqf escort for the first time in decades and are seizing the rare opportunity to pray on the holiest site to Judaism.

According to Dichter, the Waqf boycott will initiate a massive shift in how the Temple Mount is controlled. While Israeli security forces patrol the Mount, the Waqf, until now, has held sovereignty there, creating an inhospitable and unpleasant environment for all non-Muslim visitors. 

`“They are trying to create a situation in which it is problematic for Jews to go up to the Temple Mount,” Dichter explained. “Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third-holiest place in Islam, so just like non-Muslims are not allowed to enter Mecca or Medina, they want to create the same situation on the Temple Mount.

“But the Mount will remain under the control of the Israel Police.”

Indeed, on Saturday the Waqf itself said in a statement that it had lost its control over the Temple Mount, calling the Israeli decision to close the compound “aggression against the faith and history of the Islamic nation.” The accusation is ironic in the extreme, as Islamic and Muslim forces are deeply engaged in a wholesale attempt to literally usurp all historical Jewish connection and claim to to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and Israel itself.

Should Israel use the unexpected opportunity to take back control of the Temple Mount, the significance and implications would be beyond imagining. The Mount has not been under lasting Jewish control for thousands of years. If Israel succeeds in regaining sovereignty, it will be a triumph worthy of two millennia of Jewish prayer and longing, not to mention an unprecedented opportunity to begin reconstruction of the Mount and Temple as they were in Biblical days.

Clashes break out in Old City as Temple Mount tensions heat up

Clashes broke out between Muslim worshipers and police in the Old City of Jerusalem for the third night in a row on Tuesday, in response to Israel placing metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount compound following a terror attack in the area.

According to police, after evening prayers at a gate outside the Temple Mount, a group of Muslim worshipers “started throwing rocks and bottles at the officers” who were stationed in the Old City.

In response, the officers used riot dispersal equipment — notably rubber bullets and stun grenades — to break up the clashes, police said.

In videos from the scene, people can be seen running away as stun grenades echo across the Old City’s narrow alleyways.

The Red Crescent said 34 people were injured, including 14 people needing hospitalization. One person had a serious chest injury, a spokesperson said.

Similar clashes broke out at the site on Sunday and Monday nights as well, as Muslim worshipers held protest prayers against the metal detectors outside the Temple Mount gates.

The detectors were set up on Sunday after a deadly terror attack that left two Israeli cops dead on Friday. The three killers, Arab-Israelis from Umm al-Fahm, emerged from the compound and opened fire on the police officers just outside. Following the terror attack, Israel made the rare move of closing the compound while it searched for more weaponry there, reopening it to Muslims on Sunday and to non-Muslims on Monday.

The metal detectors were touted as part of increased security measures, after police said the attackers stashed their weapons on the Temple Mount.

To protest the new security measures, Waqf officials have staged protests in the Old City, gathering large groups of men to pray just outside the Temple Mount and encouraging others to avoid entering the flashpoint holy site.

However, these protests, which begin peacefully, often develop into minor clashes between the worshipers and police.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the police said that while many Muslim worshipers had decided to protest the metal detectors, others have accepted them and visited the Temple Mount.

The assertion came as members the Waqf trust, which administers the holy site, persisted in their calls for Muslims not to enter through the metal detectors installed Sunday.

The police statement added that visits from Jews and tourists also continued Tuesday, though not without incident. Security forces removed two Jewish visitors from the compound, detaining them for further questioning.

“The Israel Police continues to act to enable a return to a safe routine in the Temple Mount area, its entrances and the wider area,” the statement said.

Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site but are prohibited from praying there.

The Palestinian Fatah movement has called for a “Day of Rage” on Wednesday to protest the new security measures.

The organization headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for marches in the West Bank toward Israeli checkpoints in protest of the new measures and announced that Friday prayers, when many worshipers go to the Temple Mount, would be conducted in public squares instead.

Fatah calls for 'Day of Rage' amid new Temple Mount security in wake of attack

The Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called for a “Day of Rage” on Wednesday to protest new security measures installed by Israel at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem starting Sunday, two days after a terror attack by three Israeli-Arabs killed two Israeli police officers.

Following Friday’s terror attack, Israel closed the compound for the first time in decades, reopening it to Muslims on Sunday and to non-Muslims on Monday.

Fatah on Monday called for marches in the West Bank toward Israeli checkpoints in protest of the new measures and announced that Friday prayers, when many worshipers go to the Temple Mount, would be conducted in public squares instead. The decision was made following a meeting between Fatah Revolutionary Council secretary Adnan Ghaith, Fatah central committee member Jamal Muheisin, and Fatah representatives from the northern West Bank.

The group said the measures were called in order to denounce Israeli “terrorist procedures” in the Old City, according to a report in Ma’an.

The officials called for maintaining the delicate status quo at the Temple Mount, denouncing a “fierce and organized attack” by Israel against East Jerusalemites.

The “Day of Rage” announcement came amid a night of unrest in East Jerusalem and the Old City as Palestinian rioters clashed with police, hurling stones and firebombs and blocking roads. At least 15 were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

On Monday afternoon, light clashes broke out in the Old City, when police ordered a group of Muslim protesters off a road they were trying to block with a prayer session. Police said a Muslim teenager was arrested after throwing a bottle at police.

Scuffles also broke out on Sunday, but police said hundreds of Muslims visited the site nonetheless.

Jews revere the site, where the two Jewish temples stood in biblical times, as the Temple Mount. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the nearby Western Wall, a retaining wall of one of the temples, is the holiest place where Jews can pray.

Netanyahu Publicly Opposes US-Russia Cease-Fire in Southern Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel opposes the cease-fire in southern Syria that came into effect July 9.

After initially cautiously welcoming the cease-fire, Netanyahu told reporters during his visit to France Sunday that the Syria deal brokered by the U.S. and Russia perpetuates the presence of Iranian forces near Israel—a concern the prime minister has repeatedly voiced in recent months.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently agreed to implement the cease-fire on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany. The U.S. and Russia had previously conducted backchannel talks with Israel on the issue of creating safe zones in southern Syria to shield the Jewish state from an Iranian-led Shi’a coalition developing on its northern border.

In recent weeks, there have been nearly 20 instances of errant fire from the Syrian Civil War hitting Israel’s Golan Heights.

The U.S. and Russia will ensure Israel’s interests are taken into account during future talks on safe zones in southern Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.