The Temple Mount post-Oct. 7: Where faith and politics collide |
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When Israel appointed a new Jerusalem district police commander earlier this week, Haaretz warned that the decision could have immediate and dangerous consequences for the Temple Mount. In a lengthy analysis, the paper described the site as a powder keg, arguing that any further erosion of the long-standing status quo, particularly regarding Jewish prayer, risked igniting widespread violence. The article portrayed recent developments on the mount as the product of political pressure from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and framed even symbolic Jewish religious expression there as a provocation that could serve as a catalyst for future attacks.
That grim assessment, which reflects a view common in parts of Israel’s security and media establishment, stands in sharp contrast to both Israel’s official statements and the lived reality unfolding on the mount itself. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist publicly that Israel has not altered the status quo at Judaism’s holiest site. Yet, Israeli police enforcement patterns, political rhetoric, and the experiences of those who ascend the mount increasingly tell a more complicated story — one in which the status quo exists more as a slogan than as a coherent or consistently applied policy.
The so-called status quo dates to June 1967, when Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Seeking to prevent immediate religious conflict, then–Defense Minister Moshe Dayan left day-to-day control of........