After a few weeks during which police officers turned a blind eye to Jewish groups ascending to the Temple Mount, and a few officers being caught on video putting on tallit and tefillin, on Tuesday morning the cops were back at it.
During an ascendance to the holy site led by Beyadenu CEO Tom Nisani, following his six-month removal from the Temple Mount, the police harassed the ascending Jews.
Approximately 30 Jews, some of them recent olim, stood at the northern part of the compound and started singing spontaneously, the way Jewish ascenders had been doing freely many times last week. But this time, police officers decided to expel the group through the Iron Gate, in the middle of their visit.
While they were being expelled, senior police officers were being heard ordering their subordinates to detain a small number of visitors, almost exclusively Jews who had arrived with Beyadenu. Nisani was then ordered to “call and schedule a hearing prior to his removal from the Temple Mount” – and the cops didn’t bother to issue him a summon, as required by law. It’s clear from their conduct that the cops had been ready for this one, determined to keep Nisani away from the Temple Mount after his long-term removal order had expired this week.
Nisani said in a statement that “the police are trying to limit our organization’s activity because it is the only one challenging their attempts to subject ascenders to rules and regulations that are not a part of Israeli law. We will continue to act according to the law for the foreseeable future, even if it means we’ll be harassed or removed from the Temple Mount. If the police do not obey the law, we will appeal to the courts and won’t let go.”
