Jews who ascended the Temple Mount on Thursday held an early Kabbalat Shabbat service at the site, against the backdrop of the fact that the Mount is closed to Jews on Shabbat.
The gathering took place on the same day that a petition was filed with the High Court of Justice demanding a change in policy to allow Jews to ascend the Temple Mount on Shabbat as well.
The petition was filed by Assaf Yehezkel Fried, on behalf of himself and the Public Committee for Opening the Temple Mount on Shabbat, and Yosef Meir Rabin, through attorney Baruch Ben Yosef. The respondents named in the petition are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Jerusalem District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Avshalom Peled.
The petitioners are asking the High Court to order the respondents to explain why the blanket refusal to open the gates of the Temple Mount on Shabbat should not be revoked. They argue that the policy is unreasonable and discriminatory, particularly on a day when many Jews are free from work and studies and are able to visit the Mount.
Alongside their broader demand that the Temple Mount be opened every Shabbat, the petitioners are seeking an urgent interim order ahead of the Tishrei holidays. They are asking the court to require the state to prepare to open the Mount on the Shabbat days on which Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret will fall this year.
According to the petitioners, following the Six-Day War, Jews and other non-Muslim visitors were permitted to enter the Temple Mount six days a week, with the exception of Friday. They say that after the Mount was closed during the Second Intifada and reopened in 2003, Saturday visits were not reinstated, thereby violating the status quo that had previously been in effect.
The petition further argues that the fact that the Temple Mount is open on Jewish holidays that do not fall on Shabbat demonstrates, in the petitioners’ view, the unreasonableness of closing it on Saturdays. They also cite a report by a subcommittee of the Knesset Interior Committee that, according to them, recommended reopening the Temple Mount on Shabbat, as had been the practice until 2000.
The petitioners describe a series of appeals made in recent months to the political leadership and police on the issue. According to the petition, Ben Gvir’s office referred one of the petitioners to the prime minister, while the Jerusalem District Police Commander rejected a request to open the Mount on Shabbat, noting that visits currently take place from Sunday through Thursday.
According to the petition, Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rothman has also joined the call to open the Temple Mount on the Shabbat days on which the Tishrei holidays fall. The petition states that Rothman asked the prime minister and Ben Gvir to allow the Mount to open on Rosh Hashanah and even to permit the blowing of the shofar during the Musaf prayer service.
Due to the approaching Tishrei holidays, the petitioners are asking the court to hold an urgent hearing on their request for an interim order even before ruling on the broader petition. They are asking that the order require preparations to allow Jews and other non-Muslim visitors to enter the Temple Mount on the Shabbat days of the upcoming holidays.