Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat
Jerusalem Mayor Nir BarkatFlash 90

Security forces in Jerusalem are on high alert Wednesday ahead of “Day of Rage” protests planned in the capital.

Palestinian Authority leaders declared the “Day of Rage”, calling upon Arab residents of Jerusalem to hold mass demonstrations against new security measures put in place on the Temple Mount following last Friday’s terrorist attack.

Two Israeli Border Police officers were shot and killed by three Israeli-Arab terrorists during the attack. It is believed that the terrorists smuggled automatic weapons onto the Mount and stored them in a mosque with the help of officials from the Jordanian Waqf, the Islamic trust which manages the Muslim sites on the Temple Mount.

Among the preventive measures adopted by Israeli security forces following the terror attack are the installation of new security cameras around the Temple Mount and special metal detectors known as magnetometers at the entrances to the holy site.

Waqf officials condemned the new security measures and called upon Muslim worshippers to protest outside of the Mount. PA officials and Muslim clerics cited the use of the magnetometer metal detectors as proof of a deepening ‘Israeli occupation’ of the Temple Mount, and declared Wednesday a “Day of Rage” in response.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat responded to the declaration, dismissing the accusations of Israeli “oppression” against Muslim worshippers – the only worshippers given free access to pray on the holiest site for Judaism, where Jewish worship is banned – and suggesting the “rage” of Jerusalem Arabs would be better directed to the terrorists whose attack made the security measures necessary.

“The Temple Mount is a holy place which is supposed to be for prayer, which is why we will ensure the rights of all worshippers and visitors on the Mount. But we will not allow any person to use mosques for terrorist purposes, the way the terrorists [from Friday’s attack] did.”

“The decision by the police to set up magnetometers is the right decision and will be crucial in preventing future terror activity there. Muslim leaders and the whole world need to internalize the fact that the Temple Mount cannot be used as a refuge or staging-ground for terrorists and murderers.”

Day of Rage protesters, said the mayor, would be better off “directing their ‘rage’ against the terrorists who made this necessary, and not against the police.”