An Israeli court overturned on Wednesday a ruling by a district court judge that sparked Palestinian outrage by questioning the legality of banning Jews from praying within Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.
Under the decades-old status quo, Israel only allows Jews to visit the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa on the condition that they refrain from performing religious rites.
An Israeli appeals court quashed yesterday a ruling allowing colonial settlers to perform their Talmudic prayers “aloud” and to kneel during their storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards in a move which had provoked heavy criticism from Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/hHCbZdOfMe
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 26, 2022
Three young Jewish men challenged the police decision to prevent them from entering the Old City for 15 days because they performed Jewish rites inside the compound. The Jerusalem Magistrates Court ruled on Sunday that their actions did not constitute a security breach.
This led to protests from the Palestinian leadership, threats from Palestinian armed factions and a pledge from Israel that the status quo would be maintained. The state filed an appeal on Wednesday at the Supreme Court, which upheld the ban.
“The special sensitivity of the Temple Mount [sic] cannot be overstated,” said Judge Einat Avman-Moller in her ruling, using the Jewish name for Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Israeli court upholds non-Muslim prayer ban at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem https://t.co/u77GPUMUK4 pic.twitter.com/4HSR0r4Rvq
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 26, 2022
The judge added that the right to freedom of Jewish worship there “is not absolute, and should be superseded by other interests, among them the safeguarding of public order.”
The number of Jews who visit Al-Aqsa Mosque has risen, including during the month of Ramadan, which coincided this year with the Jewish Passover. Jordan, which has official custodianship over the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, has expressed concerns.
Tension has been exacerbated by the plans for a flag march by Jewish nationalists in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday to commemorate Israel’s occupation of the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
