"Shofar and Repentance Garments": Settlers celebrate the Jewish New Year at Al-Aqsa
Over three consecutive days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday), 1,315 settlers carried out extensive raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of the morning and afternoon raids program to celebrate the so-called "Jewish New Year."
The raids were distributed over the three days as follows: 418 settlers on Monday, 443 on Tuesday, and 454 on Wednesday. The settlers performed collective and public prayers inside Al-Aqsa, accompanied by singing, clapping, whistling, dancing, and chanting religious rituals.
During the raids, the settlers prostrated themselves collectively at several points inside the mosque and along their route, with rabbis at their forefront, wearing the white religious garments associated with the Temple claims, known as repentance garments.
Settlers posted a video clip showing one of them blowing the shofar (Jewish ritual trumpet) inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, celebrating the Jewish New Year, amid applause and encouragement from the other intruders. The shofar, usually made from a ram's horn, is used in Jewish rituals, especially on the New Year and Yom Kippur holidays.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem explained that blowing the trumpet has occurred several times in recent years, including in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and this year, with a total of more than 20 times.
The center confirmed that extremist Temple groups had recently called for participation in raids during the Jewish holidays, with the Jewish New Year marking the beginning of the longest season of raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque, followed by Thursday (the Fast of Gedaliah), then the Days of Repentance, leading up to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and finally Sukkot, and the Feast of the Rejoicing of the Torah.
In response, the occupation authorities imposed strict restrictions on the entry of Muslims to Al-Aqsa Mosque from dawn prayers until the afternoon, including preventing young men and women from entering or confiscating their ID cards. The forces also prevented Kheir Shaimi and Nitham Abu Rammouz from being present and sitting on the thresholds of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and removed them from the Old City of Jerusalem.
