Prime Minister Naftali Bennett asserted on Sunday that both Jews and Muslims have “freedom of worship” on the Temple Mount, potentially hinting at a change in policy at the most contentious site in Israel.
The Islamist Ra’am party condemned the ascent of hundreds of what it called Jewish “settlers” to the Temple Mount on Sunday morning, during the observance of the Tisha B’Av fast.
On Tuesday, Member of Knesset Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the Religious Zionist Party, held a session in the Knesset concerning the dire condition of the Mughrabi Bridge used by Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount. The meeting went on to discuss how Jewish visitation to the site could be encouraged. The meeting came one week before Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the month of Av), the day commemorating the destruction of the Jewish Temples.
Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have unearthed what may have been a 2,000-year-old city council building — a few hundred meters from its modern counterpart — during continuing excavations under Jerusalem’s Old City.
The House passed a bill Tuesday that would remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol as well as a bust of the former Supreme Court chief justice who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that denied enslaved people the right to be citizens.
As violent conflicts between the Burmese army and local forces in Myanmar continue unabated, five civilians sheltering in churches were recently killed as an increasing number of church buildings in Kayah and Shan states have been attacked in the fighting, International Christian Concern reports. Kayah state has one of the largest communities of Christians in Myanmar.
Israel’s brand new government may already be tested less than two days after being sworn into office. Hamas and other Palestinian groups are calling for a ‘Day of Rage’ on Tuesday if the planned ‘Flag March’ takes place through Jerusalem’s Old City.
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Wednesday threatened to renew intense fighting against Israel if the Jewish state “violates” the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, and downplayed damage to its military infrastructure following the 11-day conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Jerusalem’s Temple Mount complex was opened to Jews Sunday morning for the first time in 20 days, amid simmering tensions at the holy site that played a major role in sparking hostilities with the Hamas terror group in Gaza and violence across Israel.
Israeli troops attacked the Gaza Strip early Friday, backed by artillery, tanks, and warplanes, Israel’s military confirmed.
Israel declared a state of emergency in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod on Wednesday after Mayor Yair Revivo said a “civil war between Arabs and Jews,” was taking place there. The rioting, including the torching of three synagogues and the death of an Arab man, began on Monday after Arab residents took to the streets in support of Palestinians clashing with police on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip claimed Monday that some 20 people were killed in fighting with Israel in one of the bloodiest clashes in years.
Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a very rare bronze oil lamp that was buried at the foundation of a Roman-era building constructed in Jerusalem’s City of David almost 2,000 years ago, the Times of Israel (ToI) reported last week. The first of its kind discovered in Israel, the lamp is shaped like one half of an ugly, distorted face and may have been buried as an offering of good luck for the residents of the new building.
The UN Security Council will convene an emergency session on Monday morning to discuss the escalating violence in Jerusalem, including major clashes on the Temple Mount.
The Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas military site in the southern Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire earlier on Saturday night, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Israeli police burst into the Temple Mount compound on Friday evening after Palestinians threw rocks and bottles at officers, as widespread clashes in Jerusalem spread to the holy site following prayers held there on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel Police Tuesday banned Jewish visitors from visiting the Temple Mount until further notice as tensions rise in the Old City of the Israeli capital.
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers attended the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, in the largest such gathering since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Israeli archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed a rare Tyre shekel coin that is believed to have been used by Jewish pilgrims to pay the Passover Temple tax during the Second Temple era, All Israel News reports. The discovery was made in the course of extensive conservation work on an ancient citadel known as the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Jordan sent a formal complaint to Israel’s Foreign Ministry over its concern that the status quo on the Temple Mount had been violated in light of the number of Jewish visitors over the Passover holiday.