Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested last Friday morning, on the eve of Seder, after violent riots against security forces in the Temple Mount area, which resulted in the injury of several policemen. Also this morning (Sunday), on the Sabbath, the police updated that hundreds of Muslim worshipers, some of them masked, collected and threw stones in the mountain area, in an attempt to disrupt the order and block the arteries with rocks, irons and improvised barriers.
Meanwhile, the police received a report of stones being thrown at buses traveling in the East Jerusalem area near the Old City. As a result of the stone-throwing, several buses were damaged and a number of lightly injured bus passengers were reported for medical treatment. After a long wait, the Temple Mount was opened to Jewish worshipers.
The chairman of Otzma Yehudit, MK Itamar Ben Gvir, commented on the recent events and warned that if the riots continue, and the political echelon does not allow action, “in the coming days I will hold a bureau at the Nablus Gate. The pictures from the Temple Mount and the Old City are shocking. If the police do not take over the terrorists and continue to release them from the detention centers and the political echelon will not allow the police to work freely. I offer Hamas not to try me. “
The stones in the Old City Photo: Police spokeswoman
As you may recall, two months ago, Ben Gvir set up his office in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem, after the house of a local resident, Tal Yoshubiev, who suffers from repeated harassment by Arab residents, was set on fire. The opening of the bureau led to repeated riots for several nights at the site, when on one of the occasions Ben Gvir was injured during the evacuation of the bureau by the police and needed medical treatment.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the morning events and said: “It is forbidden to move to the agenda that dozens of buses were stoned today in the heart of Jerusalem. I pray for the healing of the wounded. We must act hard against terrorism and immediately restore peace and security to the Israeli capital.”