Jews Pray on Temple Mount for Slain Policemen, Muslims Protest Security

(JNS.org) Jewish visitors were granted permission to ascend the Temple Mount Monday, three days after a deadly terror attack near the flashpoint holy site.

Amid bolstered security at the Temple Mount, a small group of Jewish visitors recited the Kaddish mourner’s prayer for the two Israeli Druze police officers killed by Arab terrorists in last Friday’s terror attack. 

Jews are not officially allowed to pray at the Temple Mount, in accordance with the status quo at the sensitive holy site, which forbids non-Muslim prayer. Three Jewish visitors were arrested in April for openly praying at the Temple Mount. The Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf tightly controls access to the Temple Mount for Jews and non-Muslims, under an arrangement reached after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel gained control of the Temple Mount.

Clashes broke out in Jerusalem’s Old City Sunday when Muslim worshippers blocked a road in protest of new metal detectors Israel placed at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount. The protest was prompted by the Islamic Waqf, which together with other Muslim groups issued a statement calling on Muslims “to reject and boycott all the Israeli aggression measures, including changing the historical status quo including imposing the metal detectors.”