By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Apr 10, 2005
Several Israeli Jews, including members of Knesset, who attempted to ascend Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Sunday to hold prayers were prevented from doing so by police for fear of widespread Muslim violence.
Hundreds more were kept from entering the capital itself.
A group calling itself Revava had planned to bring upwards of 10,000 Jews to the Temple Mount Sunday for a mass prayer rally against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan.
Revava leader David Halvri was arrested immediately upon entering the Western Wall Plaza adjacent to the Temple Mount, and questioned by police for hours.
Busloads of Jewish worshippers from around the country were prevented from reaching Jerusalem at all.
"Israel's police have given in to the threat of Arab terror and prevented thousands of Jews from arriving at the Temple Mount to pray on Rosh Chodesh [the first day of the Jewish month]," HaIvri said. "Next Rosh Chodesh, we will return."
Just in case Israeli Jews had shown up en masse Sunday, mobs of Arab Muslims were on hand to confront and deny them access to Judaism’s holiest site. Police had feared violent confrontations.
Despite Israel’s laws protecting religious freedoms, Jews and Christians alike are banned from saying prayers, even individually, atop the Temple Mount.
The Temple Mount’s Muslim occupiers have repeatedly made it clear Jewish and Christian prayers at the compound would be used to justify regional Islamic aggression and even war.