MK (Likud) Moshe Feiglin and his followers have visited Har Habayis regularly, on the 19th of every month over the past decade. However, on Sunday, Lag B’Omer 5773 the deputy speaker of the Knesset received a phone call from Israel Police David Station Commander Moshe Barkat, informing that he received a direct order from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to permit him to visit the site the following day, Monday, 19 Iyar.

According to the Srugim report Feiglin was angered, calling the prime minister’s order “illegal and in contradiction to the Basic Law guaranteeing one’s basic rights”. He also feels the directive from the prime minister violates his parliamentary immunity which permits Knesset members to visit all areas.

Feiglin is quoted as adding that within the confines of the current law, the only way to prohibit the visit is the officer in charge making the determination that the visit would result in an immediate and direct danger.

The MK is also quoted saying that a direct order from the prime minister prohibiting from visiting Har Habayis is “tantamount to handing control of the site to the Waqf Authority, and the timing is amazing, a week before the nation celebrates Jerusalem Day, with the latter marking the liberation of the city in June 1967. The situation is a new one, worse than in the past and I must think just how to compel the prime minister to uphold our sovereignty over Israel’s capital, Yerushalayim.”

In a related matter, Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita released a psak ahead of Jerusalem Day that Israel must retake total and absolute control of Har Habayis, calling the current reality an “absolute disgrace, leaving the Holiest place in control of our enemies.”

The rav adds ”ציווי אלוקי לגאול את המקום ולהחזירו לבעלותנו“ .

Rabbi Lior states “There is no doubt that this weakness, the fact Har Habayis is not in our control is among the reasons we do not have regional peace and terrorism continues in our country… The key to peace is the redemption of our land, first and foremost Har Habayis and if we truly wish to redeem it, there will be the required Siyata Dishmaya towards accomplishing this.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)