MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) visited the Temple Mount Tuesday morning for the first time in nearly two years, following a directive by the Prime Minister banning MKs and government ministers from entering the holy site.
Glick was joined by MK Shuli Mualem (Jewish Home), who co-chairs the Knesset’s Temple Mount lobby with him.
A Temple Mount activist, Glick made regular visits to the holy site prior to his entry into the Knesset in May 2016.
Since then, however, the Likud MK has been barred from ascending the Mount, along with all other members of the Knesset.
On Tuesday, however, the ban was temporarily lifted as part of a pilot program, permitting MKs to visit the Temple Mount. Government ministers are still prohibited from visiting the Mount, and MKs wishing to visit must coordinate their trip with police ahead of time.
Knesset officials hope Tuesday’s one-day moratorium on the ban will pave the way for regular visitation rights for MKs.
Radical left-wing activists from the Peace Now organization protested Glick’s visit, and confronted the MKs at entrance to the Mount.
Activists held up signs reading “Crazies, get off the Mount!” and slammed the pilot visitation program.
Hagit Ofran, a senior member of Peace Now, accused the MKs of using the Mount for political purposes.
“We came here to tell the MKs to stop turning the Temple Mount into a place of demonstrations and religious war,” Ofran told Arutz Sheva. “Your visit to the Mount is political, not religious.”