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The holy site has been shut for worship for over two months due to the COVID-19 epidemic
Israeli police officers secure the area following a suspected shooting attack in which an Israeli policeman was injured lightly near the entrance to the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City February 6, 2020
(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)
Eight Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount were detained Sunday morning after they began shouting nationalistic slogans and disrupting visitors to the site, the police said.
Sunday morning was the first time the mount was reopened for Jewish visitation after over two months of closure due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Close to 150 Jews took the opportunity to ascend to the holy site.
Among the visitors Sunday morning were Temple Mount activist and former Likud MK Yehudah Glick, former government minister and Bayit Yehudi MK Uri Ariel, and former Bayit Yehudi MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli.
According to Jewish religious law, Jewish visitors to the site should immerse in a mikvah (ritual bath) before visiting and not wear leather shoes while visiting the site.
“After 70 days during which the Temple Mount was closed to visiting and prayer, tomorrow it will open!” tweeted Moalem-Refaeli on Saturday. “I invite you all with great excitement to join me tomorrow to go up in purity at 8:30 a.m. I have a strong longing for the holy place, to go up together with many people from all parts of Israeli society and especially to pray for recovery and peace for all.”
The Waqf, an arm of the Jordanian Ministry of Sacred Properties, administers the Temple Mount site. Visits by religious Jews are monitored by Waqf guards and Israeli police; all Jewish prayer is forbidden, including silent prayer, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. No sacred Jewish objects, such as prayer books or prayer shawls, may be brought onto the mount, according to the tourism website Tourist Israel.
Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.