MK (Likud) Avi Dichter, who serves as Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, is calling to turn Har Habayis into a sterile area. Dichter, who is a former Director of the Shin Bet, feels that following the fatal shooting attack on Har Habayis, turning the holy site into a sterile area is the correct response.

As reported, two policemen were murdered and a third wounded in that shooting attack. Guns that their friends smuggled onto Har Habayis for them were used in the attack by the Um el-Fahm terrorists, who were all killed by police.

Speaking with Channel 2 News, Dichter explained that technological and other measures would be required to turn Har Habayis into a sterile area. Dichter also addressed the metal detectors placed on Har Habayis by Israel, the very same metal detectors that Jordan found objectionable. He explained that in Mecca and “every hotel in Jordan and Cairo” one can find the very same measures are taken.

Dichter is confident that with the use of cameras and other high-tech devices, Har Habayis could be turned into and maintained as a sterile area.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)