Rabbi Zalman Melamed, Rabbi of Beit El and head of the Beit El Yeshiva, said Tuesday that Sheikh Kamal Riyan's statement that Jewish law forbids Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount is an exhibit of "nerve and chutzpah."
"While it is true that according to Jewish Halacha [law], a Jew who is not in a pure state cannot ascend to the Temple Mount, but certainly Arabs may not ascend to the Temple either," he noted.