Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to allow ministers and Knesset members to ascend the Temple Mount in three months, after the month of Ramadan is over, according to a Channel 2 report. The final decision will depend on the security situation at the time. Ramadan is a time when religious Muslim fervor and incitement are rampant in mosques.
A discussion on the matter took place at the prime minister's office. Attendees included Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, the head of the Shabak Israel Security Agency, the Jerusalem District Police Commander and the prime minister's special advisor Yitzhak Molcho.
The security establishment expressed grave concerns over the possibility that politicians would ascend to Temple Mount during the Pesach festival. However they also reported that there has been a significant rise of 40% in the number of Jews ascending to Temple Mount.
Netanyahu decided after the meeting not to renew the permits for ministers and Knesset members to visit Temple Mount until after the Shavuot festival and the Muslim Ramadan month which coincides with the Jewish month of Sivan. If the security situation permits it, Netanyahu will then renew the permits for Knesset members to visit the Temple Mount.
MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) responded to the report by stating that "in the past ten months I have acted in every possible way to cancel the decision to prohibit Knesset members from ascending Temple Mount. I sat with the legal advisors of the government and the Knesset as well as other officials close to the premier.
"The police and Interior Security Minister have long removed their opposition to MKs ascending Temple Mount. I initiated an Ethics Committee discussion which also agreed to remove the prohibition on ascending Temple Mount. It is distressing that only due to my threatening to go to the Supreme Court was a decision reached on the matter this evening."
Glick added that "It wasn't right during the last few months to prevent MKs from ascending the Temple Mount. This is against all the basic laws and I don't understand why another three months are required to open the gates of the Temple Mount. In the meantime my friends and I are prevented from fulfilling the mitzvah of going up to the Temple Mount. I therefore intend to submit my petition to the Supreme Court as intended in order not to allow another postponement."