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Police Ban Attempted Prayer at Temple Mount Day After Court Rules Not Illegal

Israel Police officers detained a Jewish man who attempted to enter the Temple Mount site on Monday with religious items and bowed down in what appeared to be prayer. Jewish prayer and other religious practices are banned on the site, which is the holiest in the world to Jews and the third holiest for Muslims, and is known in the Muslim world as Haram al-Sharif, home to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. The detention, and subsequent temporary closure of the site to the Jewish visitors comes a day after the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ruled that Jewish prayer at the site in violation of what is commonly called the Status Quo is not a violation of any law.  The court was ruling on the case of three Jewish teens who were challenging an order to stay away from the site for two weeks after bowing and reciting the Shema prayer. The state prosecution said it would appeal the ruling, and the police said it would continue to enforce no prayer except that of Muslims at the site, Ynet reported. The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that: “There is no change, nor is any change planned, to the status quo of the Temple Mount.” Jordan called the decision by the court, “a gross violation of international decisions relating to Jerusalem, including resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council, which all clarify that the status quo must be maintained in the holy city.”