The Jerusalem Magistrates Court found three Chai VeKayam Temple Mount activists - including Yehuda Etzion - innocent this morning of behaving violently in an attempt to forcefully enter the Mount, six years ago. Hon. Shimon Feinberg ruled that before the police take measures against Jews who wish to exercise their right to pray at the holy site, they should disperse the Moslem disturbers-of-the-peace who aim to prevent Jewish prayer there. This is the first time that an Israeli court has recognized the rights of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.
A one-time government decision preventing a group led by the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren from praying there in 1967 - a decision that has never been renewed - is the only basis the police have for forbidding Jewish prayer there. Etzion told Arutz-7\'s Yosef Zalmanson today, \"This is totally wrong, as that was a one-time decision, for that particular situation. As surprising as it may sound, no government since then, not even the Barak government, ever made a blanket decision forbidding Jewish prayer there. On the contrary - other decisions were made forbidding prayer there on certain specific days; this proves that the decision of 1967 was never seen as a permanent ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.\" Today\'s decision is expected to be appealed by the State Prosecution.
In a related item, the General Security Service has been pushing the government for a while now to open the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors. Ha\'aretz reports today that the GSS feels that the frustration among the groups wishing to visit the holy site is great, and that if an outlet is not found for the rage, it could explode into violence. The arrest two days ago of ten Temple Mount activists who attempted to enter is only the tip of the iceberg, the GSS feels. The site has been closed to Jewish visitors since the beginning of the mini-war five months ago.
A one-time government decision preventing a group led by the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren from praying there in 1967 - a decision that has never been renewed - is the only basis the police have for forbidding Jewish prayer there. Etzion told Arutz-7\'s Yosef Zalmanson today, \"This is totally wrong, as that was a one-time decision, for that particular situation. As surprising as it may sound, no government since then, not even the Barak government, ever made a blanket decision forbidding Jewish prayer there. On the contrary - other decisions were made forbidding prayer there on certain specific days; this proves that the decision of 1967 was never seen as a permanent ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.\" Today\'s decision is expected to be appealed by the State Prosecution.
In a related item, the General Security Service has been pushing the government for a while now to open the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors. Ha\'aretz reports today that the GSS feels that the frustration among the groups wishing to visit the holy site is great, and that if an outlet is not found for the rage, it could explode into violence. The arrest two days ago of ten Temple Mount activists who attempted to enter is only the tip of the iceberg, the GSS feels. The site has been closed to Jewish visitors since the beginning of the mini-war five months ago.