An ultranationalist Jewish group has petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice for permission to pray on the Temple Mount during the Yom Kippur and the Sukkot holidays.
The petitioners from Temple Mount Faithful recently argued that their to right to enter the complex was protected under the right to freedom of worship.
The Temple Mount is the location of the First and Second temples, the holiest Jewish site. It also is home to Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aksa Mosque, where the Koran says the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven on a white steed.
The Temple Mount Faithful movement seeks to restore the temple.
In July, the court allowed the group to enter the Temple Mount complex on Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second temples.
But police closed down the sire after Muslims tried to confront Jews at the site.
After the riots on the Temple Mount in October 1990 resulted in the deaths of 17 Palestinians, police had barred Jews from worshipping at the site during Jewish holidays.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
