Jerusalem Governorate: Integrating "Temple" Groups into the Occupation Police at Al-Aqsa is a Dangerous Escalation

SadaNews - The Jerusalem Governorate stated that the announcement by the Israeli occupation police about a campaign to recruit new "volunteers" for what is called the "Temple Mount Unit" represents a dangerous development that openly reveals the occupation's intention to move towards a more advanced stage in the Judaization project of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the integration of extremist "Temple" groups and followers of the religious Zionism trend within the entity used by the occupation to impose its ground control over the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The governorate clarified in a statement issued on Thursday that the danger of the announcement lies not only in recruiting extremists into an existing unit but also in revealing a shift in the occupation to a new stage of direct partnership between its executive institutions and the extremist "Temple" groups, within ongoing efforts to impose new realities inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and undermine its historical and legal status.

According to the announcement published by the occupation police, several prominent rabbis supporting incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque appeared, including "Shmuel Eliyahu," "Shlomo Aviner," and "Eliakim Levanon," alongside the "unit leader" "Guy Tal" and his deputy "Daniel Larkh," both associated with the same trend. The Jerusalem Governorate sees this joint appearance as not merely reflecting mutual support between the occupation police and extremist "Temple" groups, but as revealing a high level of integration and coordination between them. It affirms the existence of clear role integration and unity of goals within a single project aimed at enhancing Israeli control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, undermining its historical and legal status, and accelerating the steps of Judaization while imposing new realities that serve the agendas of the extremist "Temple" groups.

The Jerusalem Governorate emphasized that the core issue does not relate to the announcement of recruitment itself, but rather to what it reveals about the occupation's striving to transfer the actual decision-making center within the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Islamic Waqf Authority, which has legal and historical jurisdiction over it, to the occupation police and its various agencies.

According to the existing historical and legal status, the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Administration, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Holy Places, is the sole body authorized to manage the affairs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and oversee it. However, the occupation authorities systematically work to undermine this role and impose themselves as controlling entities over access to the mosque, the workers within it, and various details of the reality connected to it, paving the way for consolidating broader Israeli control over it.

In this context, the governorate pointed out that recent months have witnessed a gradual escalation aimed at undermining the role of the Islamic Waqf Department and forcibly stripping it of its powers by disrupting its administrative, technical, and service functions, alongside imposing increasing restrictions on its employees and guards, reaching the point of preventing it from carrying out many of the basic tasks related to the management of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Jerusalem Governorate believes that all these measures confirm that the occupation is systematically working to impose an occupying authority that controls the ground reality in the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the expense of the legal and historical authority represented by the Islamic Waqf Department, in a blatant violation of the existing historical and legal status, and a continuous attempt to reshape the legal and administrative relationship in the mosque to serve the projects of Judaization and Israeli control.

The governorate noted that the new recruitment campaign for the "Temple Mount Unit" represents an additional link in the project of re-engineering the imposed reality on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by introducing ideological elements that explicitly adopt the ideas of the "Temple" groups into positions of influence and decision-making on the ground, which heralds more restrictions on worshippers, escalated incursions, and expanded scope of biblical rituals within the mosque, ultimately leading to the imposition of new realities that threaten the identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its historical and legal status.

The Jerusalem Governorate reiterated that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its total area of 144 dunams, is a pure place of worship for Muslims alone, and that the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Administration, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Holy Places, is the legal body with exclusive jurisdiction over all affairs of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its supervision.

The governorate warned that the international silence regarding these policies has encouraged the occupation authorities to transition from protecting extremist "Temple" groups and providing cover for them to integrating them within the institutions that implement their policies in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, making these institutions direct partners in the ongoing Judaization project. It called on the international community, the United Nations, and the diplomatic missions operating in Palestine to take urgent action to stop these violations, ensure respect for the existing historical and legal status in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and confront attempts to impose Israeli sovereignty over it by force.