The Temple Mount was closed to Jews for ten days of Ramadan and three days of the Muslim feast and despite police announcing that Judaism’s holiest site would be open to Jews on the eve of the Biblical pilgrimage festival of Shavuot, on Sunday morning, the police announced that it would once again be closed to Jews. This is after the site was supposed to be open last Sunday on Jerusalem Day but was closed due to Arab violence. At no time has the Temple Mount been closed to Arab Muslims despite their violence. Jews who arrived at the entrance were told the site would be “closed to non-Muslims until further notice.”

The leadership of the Temple Mount organizations released a statement critical of the decision:

At the headquarters of the Temple Mount Organizations, the organizations received with great sorrow and severe shock the announcement of the continued closure of the Temple Mount to Jews and its opening to Muslims. The closure of the Temple Mount to Jews is a serious blow to the Jewish connection of the people of Israel to our temple and closes the possibility of prayer for the success of the fighting and recovery of the wounded precisely where G-d chose as the place of closeness and prayer to Him. And it is even interpreted as weakness towards the enemy and surrender to terrorism,” they said. “It is precisely during the fighting we must put before our eyes the words of the sages of Israel that were said of King David when he conquered the territories containing the Temple Mount.”

“Netanyahu is set on establishing a ‘Palestinian State’, or, as its true name implies, a nation of invaders,” Hayman stated, explaining that the word ‘Palestinian’ is derived from the Hebrew word ‘Polesh’. “Netanyahu has always been open about this. He stated it in his famous Bar Ilan speech. And a Palestinian State necessarily means its capital in Jerusalem, with all of the Jewish holy sites prohibited to Jews. This is why Netanyahu has done nothing to stop Arab construction in Judea and Samaria, even in the areas designated for Israel. At the same time, he prevents Jewish construction in those same areas. This is the reason for his shameful and despicable surrender to Waqf on the Temple Mount. This is why there is no rapid suppression of the riots all over the country. This is why Netanyahu refuses to stop transferring funds to the PA.”

Elishama Sandman, head of the Yera’eh Temple Mount advocacy group,

“This is a nightmarish scenario, “Sandman said. “Closing the Temple Mount to Jews is a capitulation to violence and only serves to encourage more violence. We have seen in the past that when Jews are prohibited from entering the Temple Mount, the violence only gets worse. The Arabs take this respite as an opportunity to reinforce whatever means they have at the site, whether it is rocks or worse. This endangers the police and all the residents of Jerusalem.”

“This is also happening in Lod and Akko,” Sandman said. “If the police retreat, the violence against Jews gets worse. And there is a direct effect on the rocket fire. Every retreat from the Temple Mount costs us dearly. After 2,000 years, we finally merit ascending to our holiest site. This renders protection from Hashem. For this reason, we strongly urge the government and the police to reconsider their actions.”