The status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed, the Prime Minister’s Office clarified on Monday, reversing a message affirming Jewish freedom of worship at the holy site a day after sending it.
“There is no change in the status quo,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s spokesman Matan Sidi said. “There is continuity from the last government in the [current] government’s policy on the Temple Mount.”
The “status quo” on the Temple Mount refers to allowing non-Muslims to visit, but not to pray, while Muslims can pray in al-Aqsa Mosque and in the outdoor spaces around it.
However, small groups of Jews have been quietly praying on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, regularly since 2019, with Israel Police ignoring the practice.
This continued on Sunday, the Jewish fast day of Tisha Be’av, marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples at that site in 586 BCE and 70 CE. Nearly 1,700 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Sunday morning and early afternoon without incident, and a small morning prayer service took place, but without a Torah scroll.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office after Jewish visits ended on Sunday seemed to acknowledge or even endorse Jews praying at the Temple Mount.
“The prime minister thanked the Minister [for Public Security Omer Bar Lev] and Police Commissioner [Yaakov (Kobi) Shabtai] for managing the events on the Temple Mount responsibly and with good judgment, while protecting freedom of worship for Jews on the Mount,” the statement read. “The prime minister emphasized that freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully protected for Muslims, as well, who celebrate the Day of Arafa and Eid al-Adha in the coming days.”
Earlier on Sunday morning, Muslims rioted on the Temple Mount, throwing rocks, and were cleared away by Israel Police.
Jordan had sent an official letter of protest against Jews visiting the Temple Mount, with Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Daifallah al-Fayez lamenting the “storming of the holy compound by extremist settlers under Israeli police protection” and saying that the compound “is a place of worship purely for Muslims.”
Jordan occupied half of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967 and did not allow Jews into its Old City to pray at any holy sites, including the Western Wall and Temple Mount.
Arab media reports often call any visit by Jews to the Temple Mount – regardless of where they live or how orderly they behave or the fact that none are allowed to enter the mosque at the site – “settlers storming the Aqsa Mosque.” The Jordanian statement, as well as those by the Palestinian Authority and Israeli governing coalition partner Ra’am, used the same language.
King Abdullah II of Jordan was set to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday, making him the first Arab leader to do so. Abdullah is expected to bring up, among other things, his custodianship of holy sites in Jerusalem.
Jordan’s complaint comes on the heels of a rapprochement with Israel this month, including meetings between Abdullah and Bennett, and between Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi. Israel agreed to sell Jordan double the amount of water stipulated in the peace treaty between the countries and to allow Amman to increase its exports to the Palestinian Authority.