In a Thursday morning meeting in the sukkah of Rabbi Yosef Eliashiv that included Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and President Shimon Peres, Eliashiv called on the president to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount. It is an act that that is viewed as extremely provocative by non-Jews and everything possible must be done to avoid a religious war, said the hareid-religious leader.

Torah law forbids going on the Temple Mount and, given the current tensions, the act could lead to a religious war and bloodshed, Yeshiva World News quote the rabbi as telling Peres. “You are regarded in high esteem by the public and must make your opinion heard” the president told Eliashiv who gave him a blessing to be successful as a representative of the Jewish people.