The Jordanian Foreign Ministry has condemned a campaign by a radical right-wing Jewish movement to renew the ancient Passover sacrifice ritual on the Temple Mount. The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the “extremists’ calls to invade Al-Aqsa Mosque” must be stopped. It warned that Jews should not be allowed to hold any ceremony on Haram al-Sharif, the 37-acre plaza that is the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, where the ancient Jewish temple once stood, calling the area a “unique worship site for Muslims only.”
The campaign calls on Jews to perform the sacrifice of a lamb or goat on the Temple Mount on the eve of Passover, April 15, promising financial rewards for anyone who is arrested after arriving at the mount with an animal for the sacrifice.
Earlier Wednesday, Hamas warned that if anyone tries to perform non-Muslim religious ceremonies on the mount, Israel will “bear the consequences.” The announcement was followed by a meeting of leaders of Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip with Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Israeli Deputy Public Security Minister Yoav Segalovitz said, “No one will sacrifice anything on the Temple Mount. The Israel Police is responsible, and it won’t happen.”
Raphael Morris, head of the “Returning to the Mount” movement, told The Media Line he intends to arrive at the site and perform the sacrificial ceremony, as he has tried to do annually, without success, for over a decade.