The day the Waqf began denying Jewish connection to the Temple Mount

n 1996, the Israeli government opened a new tunnel that allowed visitors to take a tour close to the Temple Mount. The Waqf threatened to use terror against Israel if the opening was not delayed. After waiting almost three months, the Israeli government decided to go ahead and open the tunnel. The Tanzim (Fatah) began using violence against Israel, culminating in the two-day riot that killed 16 IDF personnel and 80 Palestinians in September 1996.<br><br>The WAQF used this event as an opportunity to cement their own view that there is no Jewish connection to the Temple Mount into stone. This is how Amnon Ramon and Tamar Noble describe the takeover in the Israel Studies Institute's report on banning Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount. This is a translated version of their article:<br><br>The events of September 1996 were a turning point, particularly with the decision of the Waqf Council on 12 September 1996. The decision stated: “Jews have no connection to the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque, and it is the sole right of the Muslims.”<br><br>This is an attempt to change the status quo with regards to holiest sites in the holy city of Jerusalem. The Waqf Council also took a step back in time, and decided to ban people from praying atop the Temple Mount simply because they were not Muslim, including Christians. This decision was met with astonishment and criticism by the heads of the Christian churches in Jerusalem.<br><br>The decision to ban non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount was also contrary to the arrangement agreed upon in 1967 by Defence Minister (and secular Jew) Moshe Dayan, under which the Waqf had full responsibility over what happened atop the Temple Mount, and the state of Israel was responsible for the access points to the Temple Mount. This meant that all visitors who were interested in visiting the Temple Mount needed to go through security checkpoints, just as we see today. The Waqf was tasked with ensuring that no Jewish person would pray within the grounds of the Temple Mount. <br><br>On September 22nd, 1996, the police minister came to an agreement with the Waqf, by which Jews and Christians would be banned from praying on the Temple Mount. The police commissioner agreed to allow the Waqf to raise their flag above the Temple Mount every Friday, as long as they ensured non-Muslims didn’t pray on the Temple Mount. The police allowed the Waqf to do as they pleased within the Temple Mount grounds, as long as they ensured no violent outbreaks between the police and the Waqf.<br><br>The agreement also banned the police from entering the Temple Mount, except in extreme circumstances. It also banned the police from stopping those attempting to enter the Temple Mount, which in effect left the Waqf in control of who could enter and who couldn’t.<br><br>mos waqf really banned Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount in 1996. Before that, there was a mutual agreement in place between the Waqf and Israeli officials by which Israel policed the entrances to the Temple Mount to prevent people from prayer on the Temple Mount. The Waqf, in turn, would ensure that any visitors to the Temple Mount refrained from praying. <br><br>In short, up until the 1996 riots, there wasn’t a blanket ban on Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount. Israel allowed Jews to visit the Temple Mount, but the Waqf were tasked with ensuring that they didn’t pray.<br><br>Of course, no one was checking what was happening atop the Temple Mount, so in practice, Jews were praying privately, often in secret. The agreement between the police and the Waqf that took place in September 1996 effectively banned the possibility of any Jew ever praying on the Temple Mount, and there was nothing that Israel could do about it.<br><br>In effect, Israel’s decision to allow the Waqf to do whatever they pleased atop the Temple Mount was a result of a mistake on the part of Israel’s police leadership at the time. Up until the 1996 riots, Jews were allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, but only with the permission of the Waqf. The Waqf’s decision to ban Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount was a direct result of Israel’s decision to allow the Waqf to run it as they pleased.<br><br>The police still argued that they had control over who entered the Temple Mount. In practice, however, they did not. Israel had agreed that the Waqf would be in charge of who allowed Jews to pray, not the police.<br><br>The decision not to allow anybody to pray on the Temple Mount was met with strong resistance from Israel’s political leaders. MK Hanan Porat famously compared Israel’s ban on prayer to what was happening in Mecca and the Vatican:<br><br>“Can you imagine the state of Saudi Arabia banning Muslims from praying atop the temple in Mecca? Maybe we can imagine this picture. Can we imagine the Vatican banning Christians from praying in the holy of holies of the Vatican? I can’t imagine it. But the state of Israel, the government of Israel, is banning Jews from praying in the holy of holies of the people of Israel. That is, as we all know, the Temple Mount.”<br><br>The ban on Jewish prayer for Jews, and now Christians atop the Temple Mount, was only the beginning. It was the beginning of a wave of terror that has not ended to this day.<br><br>The same Waqf that was being given free rein to do whatever they wanted on the Temple Mount was also holding classes and demonstrations about the importance of using terror against Israel. The Waqf were inciting violence against Israel, and Israel was allowing this to take place.<br><br>In 2000, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak agreed to adopt the Tanzim's definition of the Temple Mount, in which Jews would be banned from anywhere atop the Temple Mount. The idea was for Israel to ban Jews from the Temple Mount in order to prevent terror against Israel. <br><br>The ban did not stop there. In the same framework agreement, Israel agreed to ban the construction of synagogues and other Jewish infrastructure atop the Temple Mount. The ban on synagogues was adopted by the Israeli government in 2003, at which point the police commissioner went ahead and extended the ban on prayer to include Jewish blessings and blessings. In 2004, the police banned bowing and prostration.<br><br>The ban on Jewish prayer was not lifted until 2005, when the Supreme Court intervened in the matter, and ruled that Jews were allowed to pray atop the Temple Mount, as long as the police approved of their ability to exercise their freedom of religion in peace. In other words, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to allow Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount would be dependent on whether or not the Waqf would allow it to occur peacefully. The police on the other hand ruled that the Waqf were in charge of deciding whether or not to allow peaceful Jewish prayer, and in effect told the Supreme Court that they would not challenge the Waqf’s right to determine what could take place atop the Temple Mount.<br><br>In 2010, an extremist appointed by the police to rule on what Jews could and couldn’t do atop the Temple Mount told the Supreme Court that any attempts by Jews to pray atop the Temple Mount would be met by violence. <br><br>The Waqf was proud of the fact that they, and not the Israeli government, were the ones responsible for banning Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. They saw it as their holy duty to ensure that no Jew was ever able to pray atop the Temple Mount again.<br><br>In 2005, the Waqf began using their violence in a bid to prevent Jewish prayer. The police were afraid of the Waqf’s violence, and in effect allowed them to ban Jewish prayer from atop the Temple Mount.<br><br>The Waqf continued to incite violence against the Jews who did manage to pray on the Temple Mount, and the police allowed them to. The police effectively allowed the Waqf to decide who was allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, and who wasn’t.<br><br>The police allowed the Waqf to use violence to stop Jewish prayer. They also allowed the Waqf to ban Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount without interference.<br><br>To this day, the Waqf is in control of who or what happens atop the Temple Mount. The police continue to let the Waqf use violence to prevent Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. If you are caught praying by a Waqf guard, they will approach you, and use violence to stop you from praying. The police will let them, and may even come and arrest you for praying while Jewish.<br><br>So the next time someone tells you that Israel is responsible for banning Jewish prayer atop the Temple Mount, now you know the truth. There are countless Israelis, like me, who want to see freedom of religion for Jews and Christians. But the Israeli government has chosen to allow a terror organization to run the Temple Mount, and have allowed them to ban us from praying on our holiest site.