According to the Temple Mount Administration, which works to strengthen Jewish ties to the holy site, described the 3,527 visitors as “a jump of over 32% over the previous record.” The visits came during the somber holiday of Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples.

In a first for an Israeli government minister, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir openly prayed on the Temple Mount defying the longstanding status quo. In response to Saudi and Jordanian criticism, Netanyahu responded, saying Israel’s policy on the site “has not changed and will not change.”

The Temple Mount, where the First and Second Jewish Temples were built, is the holiest site in Judaism. The status quo governing the holy site goes back to 1967 when Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War. Fearing a religious war, then-defense minister Moshe Dayan agreed to let the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim trusteeship, continue managing the holy site’s day-to-day affairs, while Israel would maintain overall sovereignty and be responsible for security. The Waqf is overseen by the Jordanian monarchy.

According to the status quo, while non-Muslims are allowed to visit the Temple Mount, they are not allowed to pray there.

Rabbis are divided over Jews ascending to the Temple Mount. For centuries, the widespread rabbinic consensus was that laws of ritual purity still apply to the site, restricting Jews from visiting. But in recent years, a growing number of rabbis have argued that ritual purity laws don’t apply to all sections of the holy site and encourage visits to permitted areas to maintain Jewish connections to the Mount Temple Mount.

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