Police on Wednesday morning arrested a Jewish minor who dared to say “Sh’ma Israel” on the Temple Mount.
On Monday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he plans to stop the activity of the Morabitat on Temple Mount. The Islamic group, which has been banned in the past, was described by the defense ministry as responsible for “creating tension and violence on Temple Mount in particular and in Jerusalem in general.” Moshe Ya’alon’s office added that “The activity is inflammatory and endangers tourists, visitors and worshippers at the site, leading to violence that could harm human life. The goal of Morabiton and Morabitat is to undermine Israeli authority on Temple Mount, alter reality and existing arrangements and restrict freedom of worship, and it is tied to the activity of hostile Islamist organizations and even directed by them.”
Now Netanyahu promised not just to remove the Morabitat temporarily but to declare it illegal, because, as the PM put it on Monday, “they look down on the law.”
The Morabitat members regularly gang up and harass visiting Jews on the Mount, forcing police to let Jews in only in well protected, 15-member groups.