Jewish men have been allowed to bring full prayer books onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and use them during prayer on August 16, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has confirmed, marking a further easing of longstanding restrictions at the contested holy site.
The development followed a photograph shared by right-wing journalist and activist Arnon Segal showing Jewish men ostentatiously praying while reading from siddurim (Jewish prayer books) on the compound, which is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif.
Segal described the incident as “still no blanket permit, but an initial experiment aimed at ensuring the Middle East doesn’t lose its mind over this,” calling it historic.
Palestinian sources put the number of Jewish visitors that morning at 179, accompanied by rabbis, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA and the Jerusalem Governorate.
Ben-Gvir confirmed the reports to The Jerusalem Post but offered no further comment.
Israel Police has said it operates on the Temple Mount “in accordance with the directives of the political echelon, the established rules governing the site, and operational assessments, with the aim of safeguarding public safety, security, and public order.” The force announced no general change of policy.
Under the status quo in place since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews and Christians have been permitted to visit the Temple Mount but generally prohibited from praying there, while Muslims have been allowed to worship.
Day-to-day administration rests with the Jerusalem Waqf, a department answering to Jordan’s Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites. Jordan’s role at the site is recognised in Article 9 of the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries.
In recent years, and particularly under Ben-Gvir’s tenure, enforcement has relaxed.
Police began allowing Jewish visitors to carry a single pre-printed prayer page in January 2026, and open prayer as well as prostration have increasingly been tolerated without intervention. Full prayer books and ritual objects remained barred until August 16.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly backed the shift on January 5, telling reporters that the measures introduced by Ben-Gvir “are not changing the status quo and it is in coordination with me”. Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon had warned that the minister was altering the religious arrangements at the site unilaterally.
Ben-Gvir, whose ministry oversees the police, led prayers at the compound on the fast of Tisha B’Av on July 23. Israeli media reported more than 3,500 Jewish visitors that day, while the Jerusalem Governorate put the figure at 4,248.
A source from the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf told Middle East Eye that group prayer with prayer books had taken place before, though without official sanction, and that formal permission marked the substantive change.
The latest step has drawn attention amid ongoing regional sensitivities. Arab and Muslim officials meeting in Amman on August 5 condemned what they described as Israeli escalations affecting the character of holy sites in Jerusalem.
That meeting, convened by Jordan, brought together the Arab Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem, the secretary-general of the League of Arab States and the foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi opened it by warning that Jerusalem faced growing danger.
The closing statement asserted that the entire 144-dunum compound is a place of worship reserved for Muslims and that the Jerusalem Waqf is its sole legal administrator. Participants called for a joint League of Arab States and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The European Union has taken a comparable line on the underlying principle. EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah visited the compound on February 3 and afterwards called for full respect of the status quo, backed Jordan’s special role through the Jerusalem Waqf and warned that unilateral measures to change it risked destabilising consequences.
The site has repeatedly been a flashpoint for serious violence. Muslims often refer to the entire compound as “Al-Aqsa” and it contains two principal Islamic structures, a mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
On September 28, 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the compound with a large security escort. Palestinian protests erupted immediately afterwards, and the visit is widely regarded, particularly on the Palestinian and Arab side, as the trigger for the Second Intifada, which lasted until 2005.
The ensuing years of violence left thousands dead on both sides.
The post-1967 status quo, under which Muslims pray and Jews and Christians may visit but not pray, was deliberately designed by Israeli authorities to reduce the risk of religious escalation.
Changes to access, prayer practices or religious symbols at the site are therefore treated as highly sensitive.
