October 14, 2017 -- Nearly 3000 Jews Visit Temple Mount During Sukkot

TIMES OF ISRAEL

2,265 Jews visit holy site during Sukkot holiday; Amman decries influx as 'storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by settlers and Jewish extremists'

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-condemns-provocative-jewish-visits-to-temple-mount/

October 5, 2017 -- WAQF rejects Israeli courts call to ban soccer on Temple Mount.

ARUTZ SHEVA 7

The Jerusalem Waqf office, which is subordinate to the Jordanian Waqf office, condemned the decision of the Jerusalem police to prevent Arabs from playing soccer on the Temple Mount.

In a statement, the Waqf said that it does not recognize the authority of the "Zionist courts" to intervene in the affairs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and therefore refused to respond to the summons sent by the courts to hear claims filed against it.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/236383

October 3, 2017 -- Supreme Court Ruled Soccer Games are Forbidden on Temple Mount

ARUTZ SHEVA 7 (October 2, 2017)

The Jerusalem District Police legal adviser promised to clarify to officers the legal policy regarding soccer games on the Temple Mount.

The Supreme Court ruled that soccer gamesare forbidden on the Temple Mount, since they desecrate the site's holiness. This policy does not include the area near a school on the Temple Mount.

Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization in a letter explained that "approximately one month ago, Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount noticed that the Arabs' soccer games had spread into the Temple Mount's main area."

"The police refused to hear their complaints, so the Jews spoke to a lawyer, who demanded the police do 'everything possible to avoid another such occurrence, and to bring those who desecrate the Temple Mount to justice.'"

Such conduct, Bleicher said, "is a desecration of a holy place and insults all who visit the Temple Mount, as well as all those who believe in Judaism."

The letter also noted that playing soccer in holy places is illegal and the punishment for such actions is seven years in prison.

Responding to Israel Police's promise to clarify the policy regarding soccer on the Temple Mount, Bleicher said, "I hope that from now on, the police will work determinedly to safeguard the site's holiness from Arabs who desecrate it."

Arabs continuously desecrate the holy site by holding soccer games against the law, and even have clowns perform there.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/236217

October 3, 2017 -- Call to Close Temple Mount to Muslims for Sukkot

ARUTZ SHEVA 7:  A group of Temple Mount activists have called on the government to close the Temple Mount to Muslims during the upcoming Sukkot festival, after Jews were barred from the site during a recent Muslim holiday.

The Students for the Temple Mount movement issued a statement Sunday, blasting the ban on Jewish visitation of the Temple Mount during the Eid al-Adha festival. Activists say no prior warning was given for the ban, and Jews seeking to ascend the Mount were simply denied access.

“It is outrageous for the authorities to close the Mount during every single Muslim holiday or festival,” the statement read. “As it is, the Mount is closed to Jews on Friday and Saturday, and even during the rest of the week it’s only open to Jews for four hours a day; now the police have decided to close the Mount on additional days whenever they want?”

“What was really disgusting about this whole situation is that the Israeli Police didn’t even bother to tell all of the people who wished to visit the Mount that it would be closed for the four days from Friday to Monday, so that people took the trouble to come to the entrance of the Mount, only to find it locked, with no note left by police at the gate. This is abuse for its own sake, intentionally hurting people who visit the Temple Mount and trampling their rights.”

Activists say that when they contacted the police department’s Temple Mount unit, they were told that the site was open to all visitors on Sunday – when it in fact was closed to non-Muslims. When activists called again later, the unit changed its response, acknowledging that non-Muslims would not be permitted to enter the site.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Section.aspx/2

September 29, 2017 - Isreal Arrests Arabs Who Planned Second Temple Mount Attack

JEWISH NEWS SERVICE

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency Thursday announced the arrests of three Israeli Arab supporters of the Islamic State terror group for plotting to carry out a shooting attack at the Temple Mount, similar to the attack that killed two Druze police officers near the holy site in July.

http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2017/9/28/israel-arrests-arabs-who-plotted-a-second-temple-mount-terror-attack#.Wc5Ai9N97BI=

September 29, 2017 -- The IDF Modified the Name of the Temple Mount (September 17, 2017)

ARUTZ SHEVA 7

The IDF has officially expunged the term "Temple Mount," choosing instead to refer to Judaism's holiest site as "behind the Kotel," NRG reported.

In a pamphlet given to soldiers going on a tour of Jerusalem, the guidebook given to soldiers says that the famous Binding of Yitzhak (Isaac) occurred "behind the Kotel," using that term instead of the Temple Mount.

According to Makor Rishon, newer booklets produced by the IDF's Jewish Identity Branch do not discuss the Binding of Yitzhak at all.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/235789

Gabriel Barkey Censored on Temple Mount on January 1, 2017

Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay (right) talks with American university students from UCLA on the Temple Mount on January 1, 2017. (Ilan Ben Zion/Times of Israel)

I took this picture this summer while in Israel (2017).  It is the south east corner of the Temple Mount where 400 truckloads of earth where taken in order to build the Marwani Mosque.  The mosque is located behind the smooth portion of the wall with windows.   

9 Months Ago 

While Dr. Gabriel Barkay was speaking to a group of American students from the University of California, Los Angeles, Islamic authorities attempted to have him removed for simply using the term “Temple Mount.”  Barkay is an archeologist who was giving a historical lecture on the site.  The Wafq authorities brought him before the Israeli police standing near a group of cedar trees.  Although the Israeli police said there were no legal grounds to prevent him, they encouraged Barkay to continue his lecture without using the term.  Gabriel Barkay is an Israeli archaeologist who with fellow archaeologist Zachi Zewig established the Temple Mount Sifting Project in 2005 in order to recover lost artifacts removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf and others during 1996-2001, when 400 truckloads of earth were removed from the site during the construction of the Marwani Mosque.