Israel Closes off Temple Mount for Everyone: Muslims and Jews

After Muslim worshipers flooded the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount en-masse on Friday, the Israeli government responded to the violation of the health ministry’s guidelines by closing the Temple Mount to everyone – Muslims, Jews and tourists. The closure will take effect on Monday and will last until further notice.

The Health Ministry issued a series of guidelines including the prohibition of gatherings of more than ten people in public spaces. But after it was reported that hundreds of Muslims flooded the Temple Mount on Friday, the Israeli police were left with no choice but to seal the holy site’s gates.

Israeli social media influencer Joshua Wander took to Facebook decrying the decision while blaming the Wakf for placing conditions for its closure on Israel saying: “The Wakf have agreed that Muslims will not pray on the Temple Mount on one condition…That the Jews aren’t allowed to pray there!”

“This makes it quite obvious what their true motivations are. This isn’t a holy site for them, it’s just about keeping the Jews away from their holiest site” Wander added.

Last week, Jews ascending the Temple Mount were limited to groups of ten at a time while tourists were allowed to enter unabated. Meanwhile, the Jordanian Wakf ordered the Al-Aksa Mosque to be closed which deterred Muslims from entering the Mount. But on Friday, that all changed as they stormed the Mount in droves.

Source: Israel in the News