Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday 25 Tishrei announced all Members of Knesset and cabinet ministers are barred from Har Habayis in the hope of eliminating additional provocation on the holy site. The prime minister initially intended the directive for Jewish elected officials, not Arabs.
However the outcry was immediate and PM Netanyahu later in the morning released a clarification, that his new directive applies to all elections officials, including Jews and non-Jews.
Arab MK were equally as quick to respond, with MK DR. Ahmed Tibi and others announcing that on Friday, they will all visit Har Habayis. Tibi told the press “Prime Minister Netanyahu will not decide when I can visit Har Habayis”. Other Arab MKs concurred.
MK Zahalka attempted to reach Har Habayis on Thursday afternoon but was prevented from doing so by police. He decried the “illegal” directive from the prime minister, which he says has no meaning for him.
Minister (Likud) Miri Regev responded as well, using Facebook to call on the attorney general to the parliamentary immunity from any and all Arab MKs who ignore the PM’s ruling and visit Har Habayis as announced they will. She also calls on police to prohibit them from entering, in line with the prime minister’s directive to Israel Police.
Regev states any MK visiting Har Habayis must be detained and investigated.
During a radio interview with the Knesset Channel on Thursday afternoon, MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who serves as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, explaining PM Netanyahu has now placed the decision regarding elected officials visiting Har Habayis in the hands of Israel Police as per the security assessment of the situation by police commanders.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Really? The Arab MK called the site the Har HaBayis? With a sof, noch, not a tof? Now we’re getting somewhere. It’s like when G Bush2’s opponent slipped and called him the President. Then it was all over. NO more recounting votes after that, LOL. OK, so now it’s the Har Habayis. Can Moshiach be far behind? Or maybe get a direct quote next time, Heh heh