Backed by the government, Ministers and MPs are calling for a storming of Al-Aqsa on Friday, "Jerusalem Day," in defiance of the status quo
A group of Israeli ministers and Knesset members formally requested the police leadership to allow settler visits to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, May 15. This date aligns with "Jerusalem Day," commemorating the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem according to the Hebrew calendar.
The signatories comprised Israeli government ministers such as Shlomo Karhi (Minister of Communications), Miki Zohar (Minister of Culture and Sport), and Amichai Shakli (Minister of Diaspora Affairs), along with several Knesset members from the Likud and Religious Zionist parties, including Tali Gottlieb, Simcha Rotman, Dan Illouz, Nissim Vatori, Amit Halevi, Avichai Boron, Ariel Kellner, and Moshe Sa'ada, as well as Ohad Tal and Zvi Sukut.
In their letter, the signatories urged Police Inspector General Danny Levy and Jerusalem District Commander Avshalom Peled to permit settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. This action would breach the longstanding status quo of the mosque and further infringe upon its religious sanctity.
This request conflicts with the incursion schedule managed by the occupation authorities through the Dung Gate, which has been under Israeli control since Jerusalem's occupation. These incursions occur along specific routes and at designated times in the morning and afternoon, except on Fridays, Saturdays, and during religious holidays and special occasions.
As the signatories expressed in the letter, it is unreasonable to bar Jews from entering their 'holiest site' on the anniversary of what they refer to as the "liberation of Jerusalem" (59 years after the 1967 war). They see allowing access to the mosque as a demonstration of "Israeli sovereignty" in Jerusalem and as a symbol of freedom of access and worship.
The signatories considered restricting Jewish access to Al-Aqsa Mosque on the anniversary of what they call the "liberation of Jerusalem" to be unjustified. They urged that the mosque be opened on Friday morning as a priority; if that cannot be achieved, they suggested opening it on Thursday evening, the eve of "Jerusalem Day," as an alternative.
This statement was released by an organization named "Shofar in Zion," which is involved in matters of Jewish identity and advocates for what it describes as "Israeli sovereignty" in Jerusalem.
At the start of this week, extremist groups associated with the Temple Mount began organizing supporters and demanding the opening of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to settler visits on Fridays. Knesset member Amit Halevy from Likud recently urged National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to permit the storming of Al-Aqsa on Friday, May 15. Today, these pleas and statements resulted in an official letter from ministers and Knesset members.
In recent days, there has been an escalation on the ground. Last Friday, 21 settlers tried to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque via the Hutta Gate in the morning, carrying an animal sacrifice and religious books, aiming to introduce new rituals into the mosque's courtyards. Al-Aqsa guards prevented the attempt and shut the Hutta Gate to block their entry, highlighting the severity of these actions as a direct violation and further breach of the status quo at Al-Aqsa.
This occurs amid repeated efforts to lift restrictions on incursions, creating a concerning precedent. The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first day of Eid al-Adha in 2009, which coincided with the anniversary of the so-called "destruction of the Temple," marked a departure from the usual pattern.
