Moshe Feiglin, head of the Manhigut Yehudit faction within the Likud party ascended up to the Temple Mount (Har Habyit) on Tuesday, as he does every month, and was arrested by the Israeli police along with Hagai Weiss for the crime of praying on the Temple Mount.
Feiglin had gone up to the Temple Mount with 30 other people. Halfway through his usual walk around the site, the police claim they saw him praying and escorted him off the mountain.
Feiglin denied he was praying at the time.
Police questioned Feiglin for 5 hours, and then upgraded his status to “arrest”. The charge was, “Actions that could have led to the endangerment of the public.”
Police demanded that Feiglin sign a guarantee that he would not visit the Temple Mount for the next 15 days, but he refused to sign it.
Feiglin told the police, “I am a free citizen, and I will not willingly suspend my liberty.”
The police brought a request to the court to extend Feiglin’s remand in jail for a few days to “investigate” the matter, but the court refused to grant it, and the police were subsequently forced to release Feiglin unconditionally.
The Israeli Police do not allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount because the Waqf forbids it, and threaten mass violence if they catch a Jew praying.
Photos of Moshe Feiglin and company on the Temple Mount. Accompanying Moshe is his son David who had been seriously injured in a car accident: