Jerusalem mayor: Let the Jews pray!
Since 2000, Jewish prayers have been banned at the faith’s most holy site, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as only Muslims are allowed to even mouth prayers at the site.
Even Jews who have prayed silently while visiting the Temple Mount have been arrested upon Muslim complaints that “infidel” prayers are desecrating the site, where today stands not a Jewish temple, but the Islamic Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to a report in Israel Today, however, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat last week asserted it is time for Israel to restore religious freedom and allow other faiths to pray atop the Temple Mount.
“The government is ultimately responsible for whether or not Jews can pray on the Temple Mount, not the Jerusalem municipality,” Barkat reportedly told students at a religious high school. “My opinion is that everyone should be able to pray there.”
The paper reports that though anyone can “technically” pray at the site, threats of Muslim violence have resulted in a police policy forbidding Jews and Christians from even mouthing prayers while visiting the Temple Mount.
In the past, local Muslims have indeed responded with deadly violence when prominent Jewish leaders have visited the Temple Mount. News from Jerusalem