MK Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism), has demanded that Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and Chief Rabbi of the IDF Eyal Karim cancel an IDF soldiers' trip to the Temple Mount.
Smotrich wrote in an open letter that while he is sure that the organizers meant well and that he is happy about any manifestation of sovereignty on the Temple Mount. At the same time, he called for the trip to be canceled because it is against the ruling of the Chief Rabbinate, and according to him, the Temple Mount is not a place for a field trip.
"Precisely because of the sanctity of the place, according to Jewish law, there is a severe prohibition against ascending the Temple Mount while impure. Such a trip requires careful Rabbinic guidance, and in fact, the Chief Rabbinate forbids trips to the Temple Mount."
"With great pain at the desecration of the Temple Mount under the temporary control of the Waqf in the place, and in anticipation of the day when we will carry out our pilgrimages to the Temple in holiness and purity, I appeal to you to cancel the trip to the Temple Mount."
"The Temple Mount is not a place for a trip and it is not appropriate for the Israel Defense Forces to take its soldiers on a trip contrary to the Chief Rabbinate's directives. What private individuals do is their own business, but that is not so with a trip organized by a state body like the army."
MK Yomtob Kalfon (Yamina) responded "I am very surprised by Smotritch's activism against the Temple Mount. He knows that there are rulings in Jewish law that allow security forces to enter the area, even without the strict rites of ritual purity."