Following the report published yesterday (Monday) according to which Minister of Internal Security Amar Bar-Lev complied with Jordan's demand on the issue of adding Waqf guards on the Temple Mount, the Prime Minister's Office claimed this morning that "there is no change or development in the complex - Israel's sovereignty is preserved."
However, the Bureau admitted that in practice six new Waqf guards had been added to the Temple Mount, at the expense of existing unmanned standards.
According to the bureau's announcement, this was an incident that took place about a month and a half ago: "After a Jordanian request to increase the waqf standards on the Temple Mount by 50 standards, Israel did not find it appropriate to comply with the request. Without enlarging them. "
The bureau also stated that "all decisions on the Temple Mount will be made by the Israeli government out of considerations of sovereignty, freedom of religion and security, and not out of pressure from foreign or political factors."
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett // Photo: Gideon Markovich,
As you may recall, here 11 it was reported yesterday that according to sources close to Bar-Lev, they claimed that he had agreed in principle to increase the number of Waqf guards in the compound.
However, the increase quota has not yet been set - and in any case the Minister has stipulated that the new guards will not be Waqf members.
As you may recall, the chairman of Ra'am, MK Mansour Abbas, was the one who initiated the increase of Jordanian power on the mountain - and he even coordinated his demands with King Abdullah of Jordan.
MK Mansour Abbas, in 2021, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us
