Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Israeli security brass decided Saturday night on new initial security arrangement for entry to the Temple Mount, in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack Friday that left two Border Guard Police officers dead and more wounded.
It was decided in a telephone consultation between the prime minister, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Ronni Alsheich, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Director Nadav Argaman, and Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevy to gradually open the Temple Mount to worshipers, visitors and tourists beginning Sunday afternoon (July 16).
New security arrangements will be enforced at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount henceforth, with metal detectors installed at the entrance gates, and cameras installed on high poles outside the Temple Mount, “but they give almost complete coverage of what is happening there” on the Temple Mount, Netanyahu said before boarding a plane for Paris.
Additional security steps will be taken later, his office said in a statement.
Netanyahu and his wife Sara flew Saturday night to Paris, where the prime minister will meet with French President Emanuel Macron and participate Sunday in a ceremony marking 75 years since the deportation of Jews to the Nazi death camps. From there he and his wife will fly to Budapest, where he is slated to meet with the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.