On the morning of Sunday 5 Adar I three Jews were detained on Har Habayis on suspicion of davening. They were detained for approximately 40 minutes and then released without being interrogated.

Police officers informed them that in order to ascend Har Habayis in the future, they will need to get approval in a hearing before a police officer and they will need to sign on the guarantee demanded by the police.

Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado, from whom the three requested legal counsel, sent an urgent letter to the police in which he clarified in their name that two of them had not prayed at all and the third quietly moved his lips in prayer, and therefore there is no cause to ban them from entering Har Habayis.

Additionally, Yado wrote that the search which the policemen carried out on the detainees was illegal, and demanded that police keep the photographic evidence of the visit on Har Habayis held in order to prove the claims of the three detainees concerning their false detention by the police.

Some of the other cases in which Honenu defended persons suspected of law-breaking on or near Har Habayis include:

· February 11, 2016: A Har Habayis activist is awarded NIS 32,000 compensation

· December 28, 2015: District judge strongly criticized Har Habayis police

· September 8, 2015: Jew detained for reciting a bracha on Har Habayis

· September 6, 2015: Jews banned from Har Habayis allowed to return

· June 29, 2015: A Father and sons assaulted on Har Habayis

· May 28, 2015: Jewish youth on Har Habayis ‘framed’

· May 10, 2015: Bridegroom detained on suspicion of davening on Har Habayis

· April 20, 2015: Soldier detained on Har Habayis on suspicion of bowing

· February 5, 2015: Rabbi Elitzur briefly detained on Har Habayis, faces possible ban

· February 2, 2015: Court criticized police treatment of Har Habayis detainees

· December 16, 2014: Jewish woman carrying grape juice detained at entry to Har Habayis

· October 31, 2014: Police request rejected, Har Habayis activists released

· August 6, 2014: Jewish youth detained on suspicion of singing at gate to Har Habayis

· May 7, 2014: Har Habayis detainees released

· February 6, 2014: Har Habayis: Israeli flag, banned – Hamas flag, permitted

· June 23, 2013: Court: Ban on Jewish prayer on Har Habayis violates freedom of worship

· May 8, 2013: Har Habayis detainees unconditionally released

· April 29, 2013: Police selectively enforcing law on Har Habayis, detainee unconditionally released

· April 23, 2013: Two minors detained on Har Habayis

· December 19, 2012: Police lost control of Arab mob, abandoned Jewish women

· October 4, 2012: Jews detained after Arabs riot on Har Habayis

It must be noted: According to the Poskei Hador one is absolutely forbidden to visit the Temple Mount, and there is an Issur Kares for one that goes there.

Six years ago on Sukkos, Israeli President Shimon Peres paid a visit to the Sukkah of Maran Hagon Rav Elyashiv ZATZAL, where Rav Elyashiv called on the President to prevent Jews from visiting Har HaBayis, stating it is an act that that is viewed as extremely provocative by the goyim. Maran stated everything possible must be done to avoid a religious war, and the provocateurs are playing with fire.

Maran is quoted as explaining to the president that Halacha forbids going onto Har HaBayis but today, it is more than this, it is an act that may lead to a religious war and bloodshed.

This is and remains the view of poskei hador. This is also the view of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Among the rabbonim who share this view are HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita, HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Halevy Wosner ZATZAL, HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein Shlita, Maran HaGaon HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita, Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L, Maran Hagon HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ZT”l and many others.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)