On Simchat Torah 5785 (October 23, 2024), Tom Nisani, CEO of “Beyadenu – Returning to the Temple Mount,” ascended to the Temple Mount, raised the Israeli flag in commemoration of the Simchat Torah massacre on October 7, and called for victory against the enemy.
In response, the Israel Police imposed an administrative ban, barring Nisani from the Temple Mount for four months. The decision was made swiftly, without the publication of any underlying evidence to justify the ban.
In recent weeks, Attorney Aviad Visoli, representing Nisani, has been engaged in a legal battle to challenge this ban. For the first time, under a December 17 order by Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Gad Ehrenberg, the police were compelled to disclose all relevant materials behind the administrative ban. This included action reports written by the involved officers, hearing summonses, and other related documents—materials that the police had previously withheld from individuals banned from the Temple Mount without explanation.
On December 24, 2024, the police complied with the court order and submitted the requested documents, marking a significant precedent. However, they have continued to withhold visual footage, in violation of the court’s ruling.
The legal team at Beyadenu has declared that the recent developments set a critical new precedent. They emphasize that any individual threatened with a ban from the Temple Mount should now demand access to all relevant materials and seek legal representation, with the organization’s support.
The legal proceedings regarding Tom Nisani’s specific ban are still ongoing in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Beyadenu, commented: “Our legal efforts for the Temple Mount are reshaping the status quo. While the progress is Sisyphean and slow, it is yielding results, gradually dismantling the police’s longstanding methods of restricting Jewish ascenders from exercising their rights. With the invaluable support of ‘The Lawfare Project,’ we will not stop until we fully achieve our goals.”
Attorney Aviad Visoli added: “In recent years, the police have improperly invoked Section 4A of the Police Ordinance to ban hundreds of Jews from the Temple Mount. This provision was originally designed to grant officers crowd-control authority during mass casualty events. However, the police have repurposed it as a tool to impose lengthy bans on Jewish individuals, circumventing regional courts and pushing many cases directly to the High Court. We have filed numerous appeals in courts across the country, including the Supreme Court, to challenge this misuse. With God’s help, these efforts are starting to bear fruit. We remain committed to the legal fight until this illegal and anti-democratic practice is fully eradicated.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the Temple Mount:
נדמה לי שזה השיא (החיובי) .שר ההגנה המיועד של ארה”ב מתנגד לאפליית היהודים על הבית.
פיט הגסת’, עלה בשנת 2019 להר בליווי הרב חיים ריצ’מן (בתמונה).
בסיום הביקור אמר כך: “למי שאינו מוסלמי יש שעות וימים מוגבלים בהם מתאפשר להם לעלות להר הבית. כשעליתי, חיכינו בתור ארוך בשער המוגרבים,… pic.twitter.com/bNLoIddcXp— Ariel Kahana אריאל כהנא (@arik3000) November 14, 2024
