Beyadenu, a group advocating for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, has called to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day by ascending to Judaism’s holiest site and the heart of Israel’s capital while openly displaying Israeli flags. This call comes in the wake of unprecedented support for the Temple Mount.
Beyadenu announced that 6,862 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount during the Pesach (Passover) holiday, representing a 48.3% increase from three years ago. Last year, due to security restrictions, only 2,027 Jews ascended. A graph created by Beyadenu shows a steady but sharp increase from nine years ago, when 1,015 Jews ascended.
As these numbers increase, Jewish rights are normalizing. Jews can now stand and pray openly without a tallit (prayer shawl) or tefillin (phylacteries). The Israeli police also forbid bringing a Torah scroll into the Temple Mount compound. Christians and Jews alike are forbidden from bringing religious objects or sacred texts onto the Temple Mount. Non-Muslims are banned from visiting the site at night and on Fridays and Saturdays.
Beyadenu has called for a further expression of Jewish independence at the site, calling on Jews to ascend to Judaism’s holiest site while openly displaying Israeli flags.
When the IDF conquered the Temple Mount in 1967, Motta Gur, the commander of the IDF forces that unified Jerusalem, had an Israeli flag hoisted over the Dome of the Rock. Moshe Dayan, who personally oversaw the war in Jerusalem, immediately ordered the flag to be removed. He subsequently turned over the administration of Judaism’s holiest site and the location of the past and future Jewish temples to the Muslim Waqf.
While violating Israeli law, this prohibition is still enforced by the Israeli police.
Palestinian flags are routinely displayed at the Temple Mount and even Hamas banners have been spotted.
This applies to Jews and non-Jews. In 2015, a Christian tourist from France was attacked by Muslims, struck in the head by a rock after he entered the Temple Mount with an Israeli flag patch displayed on his backpack. Even more disturbing about this incident was that the police arrested the victim.
In 2016, an Israeli was detained by police for posting to Facebook a photoshopped image of himself on the Temple Mount proudly waving an Israeli flag. Facebook subsequently removed the post (and similar posts).
