Police Minister Shlomo Hillel said today that police would continue to enforce the ban on Jewish religious services on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, site of the Mosque of Omar and the El Aksa Mosque, two of the holiest shrines of Islam.
The ban stems from a Supreme Court decision of five years ago. The issue was raised in the Jerusalem City Council by Councilman Gershon Solomon of Herut who noted that a Jerusalem magistrate had ruled recently that the police acted wrongly when they broke up a prayer meeting being held on the Temple Mount by a group of Herut youths.
The Temple Mount, which rises above the Western Wall is forbidden to Orthodox Jews by halachic law. But right-wing nationalist groups have periodically attempted to hold prayer meetings on the site where the Second Temple stood more than 1900 years ago.
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