View of Temple Mount
View of Temple MountMiriam Alster/ Flash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office denied Monday allegations from the Jordanian Waqf Muslim Authority that Israel has prevented security cameras from being placed on the Temple Mount, in accordance with an agreement signed between Israel, Jordan and the US earlier this week. 

"Final arrangements for the manner and location of the cameras on the Temple Mount, which was agreed upon between Israel, Jordan and the United States, were supposed to be coordinated at the professional level."

"The cameras will be installed according to the results of arrangements to be determined between the parties," the PMO added. "Israel has already expressed its consent to start the process as soon as possible".

On Saturday night, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Israel had agreed on steps to calm tensions over the Temple Mount, including 24-hour security cameras.

Kerry added that Netanyahu had agreed to "an excellent suggestion by King Abdullah to provide 24-hour video coverage of all sites" in the compound.

Netanyahu has since insisted that the cameras "are in Israel's interests," despite intensive criticism both over the decision to continue a ban on Jewish prayer at the holy site and suspicion that Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would exploit the cameras for their own interests. 

The Temple Institute, in particular, warned in an Arutz Sheva interview this week that the placement of CCTV cameras panders to the "Islamist narrative" regarding the Mount, including claims the site is holy to Muslims, that "settlers" are attempting to conquer the site, and that Muslim control over the Mount is a given.