In first, Israel allows group of some 180 Jews to enter Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Compound

Jewish worshippers overlooking Al-Aqsa-Temple Mount on 15 April 2025

Nir Hasson and Josh Breiner report in Haaretz on 15 April 2025:

For the first time, the Israel Police on Tuesday allowed a group of around 180 Jews to ascend the Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, together – a notable shift from the established policy.

Typically, the police permit groups of only about 30 to enter at a time. This change in police policy adds to a broader shift in the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa status quo in recent years – a shift that has accelerated since Itamar Ben-Gvir was appointed National Security Minister.

According to the Temple Mount Administration, a group that promotes Jewish pilgrimage to the Al-Aqsa compound and works to “cancel the anti-Jewish status quo,” 2,607 Jews visited the site during the Passover holiday, 1,088 on Tuesday alone. Ben-Gvir himself came to the Temple Mount entrance but did not enter the Al-Aqsa compound itself.

Police now largely allow Jewish visitors to pray, sing, and bow on the site – activities long prohibited. In June, Ben-Gvir openly stated that Jews have the right to pray on the Al-Aqsa compound, contradicting the traditionally observed status quo.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded at the time by reaffirming that “the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”

Meanwhile, several members of the “Returning to the Mount” group were arrested in recent days after attempting to reach the compound with a goat or lamb intended for a Passover sacrifice.  On Tuesday afternoon, the Jerusalem District Court overturned a lower court’s decision to extend the detention of two activists caught near Jaffa Gate with a lamb in their possession.

Israeli police said that they operated “with bolstered forces to maintain security and public order in Jerusalem’s Old City and holy sites during the Cohen’s Blessing,” a ceremony held in Jerusalem during the Jewish holidays of Passover and Sukkot.

The police said that “officers safeguarded visits to the Temple Mount in accordance with visitation regulations and group size limitations, which are determined by circumstances such as overall visitor numbers and the police’s ability to ensure public safety and order.”

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