Just hours before a Knesset committee was scheduled to convene to discuss Israeli sovereignty on Har Habayis, Arabs chose to show who runs the show. As police opened the Mughrabi Gate to the Har Habayis on Tuesday morning 25 Adar I 5774, they were attack with fireworks and pelted with rocks.

As the situation escalated, police responded with riot control adjuncts including stun grenades. Three rioters were placed under arrest and two or three policemen were injured. Baruch Hashem reports indicate their injuries were not serious.

Police announced following the violence that Har Habayis would be closed to visitors, which translates to permitting the violent rioting Muslims to continue to have access while prohibiting all others from visiting. This is one of the ways the Waqf uses to keep Jews from visiting the holy site, by precipitating violence amid a realization police will shut the site down.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)