On Thursday, the Jerusalem District Court will decide whether to accede to the request of police to extend the detention of two “Temple Mount infiltrators” who were arrested on Wednesday when police visited their homes. One of the men was arrested during his daughter’s birthday party, in front of dozens of children.
The two men are known Temple Mount activists, and their arrest follows the publication this week of a report describing how groups of activists are taking a special course teaching them how to disguise themselves convincingly as Arabs, in order to ascend to the Temple Mount via the entrances designated for Muslims. They have been interrogated on suspicion of having entered a place of worship or a cemetery without permission; police also suspect them of having entered a place of worship with the intention of harming the sensibilities of those who pray there, or of debasing the site. If convicted on these counts, they could face up to three years behind bars.
Attorney Nati Rom of Honenu is representing the two men. According to him, their arrest is “a tyrannical abuse of power that befits an apartheid state. Someone is photographed for an article without concealing his identity – but he didn’t commit any crime – and the police come along and they don’t just interrogate him, they actually arrest him, in his home, instead of summoning him for questioning in an orderly manner.
“How sad to see the police acting out of political motivations,” he added, “while serious offenses are ignored. These two men did not break any law; they did not disturb the public order – it was, unfortunately, the police who disturbed the public order, and it is the police that is trying to stifle free speech and trample on human rights here.”
A report on Channel 13 News originally revealed the existence of the plan for Temple Mount activists to infiltrate the Mount disguised as Arabs, describing a course being held to teach Jews how to disguise themselves effectively in order to enter the Temple Mount during hours when Jews are not permitted to enter via the Mughrabi Gate. The course included training on how to pose as Muslims, with Jews told to practice in other mosques before attempting to enter the mosques on the Temple Mount itself.
The ’Hozrim leHar’ (Returning to the Mount) organization issued a statement saying that: “Throughout the years, we have held a number of courses designed to teach Jews how to ascend to the Mount without being subject to restrictions. We do not accept that Jews should be restricted to specific hours when they may ascend to the Mount. This situation should change, and if the State will not open all the gates of the Temple Mount to Jews, at all hours of the day, we will make sure that more and more Jews ascend regardless, to pray there and exercise their rights and fulfill their duties as Jews.”
They added that, “Naturally, Jews who enter the Temple Mount area in this manner do so safely and cautiously, but we reject the position of the police that it is dangerous for Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount, and insist that we be allowed to ascend at all hours of the day and that the police and the government enable free access to the Mount as the holiest site to the Jewish People. It is time that we corrected this historic injustice that Jews cannot exercise their rights to the Temple Mount – something that counters logic, is illegal, and violates the Zionist dream.”
In conclusion, they noted that, “Last week, two activists, Rafael Morris and Uri Shiloh were served with administrative distancing orders from the Old City of Jerusalem. No draconian distancing order will prevent Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount – on the contrary: for every Jew who receives such a distancing order, ten more will ascend, not only via the Mughrabi Gate but also by other gates.”