Temple Mount in Jerusalem was closed on Sunday morning to Jews and tourists, as Arab rioters threw stones at Jews on Temple Mount as well as the Jews praying by the Kotel.
According to Reshet Bet Radio, the incident began when a 4-year-old girl had to relieve herself at the edge of the Temple Mount compound. The girl was accompanying her father, who was among the Jewish activists visiting the holy site. There are no bathroom facilities available in the area which is permissible for Jews to access, and so the father had to take his child to a secluded area.
Arab youths in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount who heard about the “offense” started throwing stones indiscriminately at all the visitors at the site. They threw stones at police and then at the large crowd of Jews praying below the Mount, at the Western Wall. No one was hurt and police forces repelled the attackers and arrested six suspects.
The child’s father told Reshet Bet he had no intention to provoke the Arabs, but absent a proper facility, he had to take care of his child as best he could.
Jewish Temple activists said that closing Temple Mount on Jewish holidays has become a predictable ritual, as Muslims incite rioters over their websites to storm the site, and Israeli police never lifts a finger to prepare for the rioters. Instead, they let the riots begin and then use them as an excuse to close off the site.
