JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Police officers, guards from the Islamic Waqf and Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount clashed at the holy site.
On Wednesday, police detained at least 15 young Jewish activists who bowed down in prayer at the site. Jews are prohibited from praying and worshipping at the Temple Mount.
Hundreds of Jewish visitors reportedly visited the Temple Mount on Wednesday, observed as Jerusalem Day.
A group of visitors who toured the site sang Israel’s national anthem as they left, angering the Waqf guards and Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque, who tried to attack the tourists.
Al-Aqsa compound director Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani told the Palestinian Maan news agency that Israeli police forces assaulted a group of four of the mosque’s guards after the guards “objected to the provocative behaviors of Israeli settlers during their raid of Al-Aqsa.”
Police said they removed the tourists and arrested two guards who assaulted the police officers.
The Waqf is the Islamic trust that administers the Temple Mount site.
