MK Eldad (National Union-NRP) called in the letter for the state's chief legal counsel to apply the principles he elucidated regarding the Jerusalem gay parade to the rights of Jews to worship on the Temple Mount. As of now, police enforce a ban on Jewish worship on the Mount, Judaism's holiest site, due to threats of violence on the part of Muslims. The Arabs were allowed to maintain jurisdiction over the mosques on the Mount even after Israel conquered it in 1967. The ban on Jewish prayer is in effect despite Israeli lower court decisions stating that, in principle, Jews should have freedom of access and of worship on the Temple Mount.
"I was surprised," MK Eldad wrote, "to read and to hear that you ordered the police to make the parade possible, despite the widespread public opposition and the concern that mass disturbances would arise in its wake... the first signs of which are already visible in the field. At the same time, I am convinced that your position on the matter is one of principle, and you emphasize that freedom of expression and the right to protest must be ensured. However, for reasons of preserving public safety and out of a concern over possible mass disturbances, the Israeli police - with the full backing of the attorney general's office - denies Jews the freedom of worship on the Temple Mount."
On Monday, Atty.-Gen. Mazuz rejected a police recommendation to ban the parade, saying, "We have to make a decision: either we give in to threats or we deal with them. We have to exert efforts to find an equation so that it can be secured." Mazuz ordered the police to work together with representatives of the Open House gay organization to find a way to hold the event "with a modest character."
Further addressing the apparent inconsistency in the application of the law in the capital, Eldad pressed the attorney general: "You support the 'modest' rights [of the homosexual] community in Jerusalem, but you must surely know that a Jew caught standing with closed eyes and murmuring in a whisper is ejected from the Temple Mount."
In conclusion, MK Eldad demanded that the principles that directed Mazuz "regarding the rights of the homo-lesbian community will also direct him in the matter of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount."
Tuesday afternoon, the police presented the route agreed upon with the organizers of the march to the High Court of Justice, in the context of a multiple-party petition filed against the march. The parade will begin at 11:00 Friday morning and will end four hours later. The parade route is to snake through several streets near the government complex, avoiding religious neighborhoods, and end at the Givat Ram sports stadium. The opponents have until Wednesday at noon to provide their response to the documents submitted by the police.
Sometime Wednesday afternoon, High Court Justices Beinish, Rivlin and Procaccia will hold a final session to determine the fate of the homosexual march planned for Jerusalem.
"I was surprised," MK Eldad wrote, "to read and to hear that you ordered the police to make the parade possible, despite the widespread public opposition and the concern that mass disturbances would arise in its wake... the first signs of which are already visible in the field. At the same time, I am convinced that your position on the matter is one of principle, and you emphasize that freedom of expression and the right to protest must be ensured. However, for reasons of preserving public safety and out of a concern over possible mass disturbances, the Israeli police - with the full backing of the attorney general's office - denies Jews the freedom of worship on the Temple Mount."
On Monday, Atty.-Gen. Mazuz rejected a police recommendation to ban the parade, saying, "We have to make a decision: either we give in to threats or we deal with them. We have to exert efforts to find an equation so that it can be secured." Mazuz ordered the police to work together with representatives of the Open House gay organization to find a way to hold the event "with a modest character."
Further addressing the apparent inconsistency in the application of the law in the capital, Eldad pressed the attorney general: "You support the 'modest' rights [of the homosexual] community in Jerusalem, but you must surely know that a Jew caught standing with closed eyes and murmuring in a whisper is ejected from the Temple Mount."
In conclusion, MK Eldad demanded that the principles that directed Mazuz "regarding the rights of the homo-lesbian community will also direct him in the matter of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount."
Tuesday afternoon, the police presented the route agreed upon with the organizers of the march to the High Court of Justice, in the context of a multiple-party petition filed against the march. The parade will begin at 11:00 Friday morning and will end four hours later. The parade route is to snake through several streets near the government complex, avoiding religious neighborhoods, and end at the Givat Ram sports stadium. The opponents have until Wednesday at noon to provide their response to the documents submitted by the police.
Sometime Wednesday afternoon, High Court Justices Beinish, Rivlin and Procaccia will hold a final session to determine the fate of the homosexual march planned for Jerusalem.