Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir is a well-known advocate of increased Jewish rights on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, where the activities of non-Muslims — including the right to prayer — are strictly limited.
The far-right leader and his party are set to be a crucial part of the governing coalition put forth by Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Ben Gvir is seeking to be public security minister — a role that carries with it authority over Israeli policy on the Temple Mount. As such, what changes might the next government make to arrangements at the incendiary holy site?
For the last two decades, activist organizations have been advocating for increased Jewish rights at the Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism, and, as the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in the world for Muslims.
It also lies at the center of the competing national claims of Israel and the Palestinians, and the actions of Israeli security forces and politicians at the site have on several occasions been followed by intense bouts of violence with the Palestinians. Israel extended its sovereignty to the Mount and the rest of the Old City when it captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from its Jordanian rulers in 1967, but allowed the Waqf (Muslim trust) to continue to administer its holy sites, and determined that Jews would be allowed to visit but not to pray there.
Ben Gvir has been a frequent visitor to the Temple Mount for many years, and other members of his party — and the Religious Zionism party, with which Otzma Yehudit is allied — are, like him, ardent advocates of expanding Jewish rights and Israeli control at the site.
The 14 seats held by the Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit alliance will give Ben Gvir and his allies leverage to push for increased Jewish rights on the Temple Mount. Ben Gvir said during his election campaign that Jews deserve equal rights to Muslims at the site.
Critically, it is the Israel Police that largely determines policy on the Temple Mount regarding Jewish prayer and visiting hours. If Ben Gvir is awarded the public security ministry, which controls the Police, he will in effect have authority over such decisions.
Although the High Court of Justice has affirmed the right of Jews to pray at the mount, it has ruled that the police are entitled to restrict this right if they believe allowing Jewish prayer could endanger public security.
As a result, the police have imposed a blanket ban on public Jewish prayer and the use of items such as prayer shawls and phylacteries, in line with the status quo agreement between Israel and Jordan dating back to 1967.
Ahead of the general election, the Beyadenu organization, which advocates for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, presented a list of 10 steps to expand Jewish rights and assert greater Israeli control of the holy site to candidates in the primary elections of Likud and Religious Zionism.
Beyadenu’s list, dubbed “The Ten Principles for the Path to Sovereignty on the Temple Mount,” includes granting Jews freedom of worship on the Temple Mount and adding the site to the list of Israel’s holy places as defined in the Law for the Holy Places.
Tom Nisani, the director of the Beyadenu organization, which is one of the principal Temple Mount activist groups, said that although several items on the organization’s list will take time to implement, policies such as the right to public prayer, increasing Jewish visiting hours, and preventing the destruction of antiquities could all be put into effect immediately.
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