JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Police barred Israeli Jews and tourists from the Temple Mount following threats of Muslim violence.
The ban on Thursday came a day after violence between a group of Orthodox Jews and Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount. The group was prevented from entering the Temple Mount.
The Thursday ban came after Muslim groups threatened to protest the visit of Jewish children to the Temple Mount as part of an educational program to study Temple rituals, including the Shavuot holiday ritual of bringing first fruits to the Temple.
Hundreds of Jews visited the Temple Mount on Wednesday, the holiday of Shavuot, though thousands attempted to gain entrance, according to Arutz-7.
Jews generally are not permitted to pray or bring any ritual objects to the Temple Mount, which is considered Judaism’s holiest site, in order to avoid confrontation with Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aksa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. The site is overseen by the Muslim Wakf, the Muslim religious administration charged with managing the Temple Mount site.
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