Court Defends Residents Praying At Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex, Senior Israeli Parliament Member Reminds Risk Of 'Religious War'

Masjid Al-Aqsa. (Wikimedia Commons/Andrew Shiva)

JAKARTA - A senior Israeli lawmaker said on Monday the country was risking a 'religious war' after a court ruled in favor of Jews who had tried to pray at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and when nationalists planned a march near the site. .

Palestinian factions have condemned Israel's actions in Jerusalem's Old City, the heart of the decades-old conflict, repeating threats that echoed their warnings ahead of the May 2021 war on Gaza.

The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court on Sunday overturned an arrest warrant against three Jews who had prayed while visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Jews respect the site as a remnant of two ancient temples, but are prohibited from worshiping there under Israel's treaty with Muslim authorities. This mosque is the third holiest place for Muslims.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office said it would appeal the ruling. PM Bennett will also have to decide whether to give the green light to Israel's annual flag march in the Old City next Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ram Ben-Barak, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Affairs Committee, opposed the lower court's decision and voiced concern about the planned march route, which includes the Muslim quarter of the Old City.

"I think during this sensitive period you have to be careful," he told Kan radio.

Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex. (Wikimedia Commons/Andrew Shiva)

"We must not, with our own hands, cause a religious war here or any kind of provocation that can ignite the Middle East," he continued.

The flag march celebrates Israel's conquest of the Old City in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a status not recognized internationally. Meanwhile, the Palestinians want to establish their own capital in the city.

Weeks of clashes in East Jerusalem last year, including at the Al-Aqsa compound, sparked a war in Gaza last May that killed at least 250 Palestinians and 13 in Israel.

After months of relative calm, tensions have risen again in recent weeks, leaving many people dead, with repeated attacks by Israeli forces in the West Bank, and attacks by militants on Israelis.

It is known that police and Palestinians also clashed in the mosque area last month on various occasions during the holy month of Ramadan.

Ben-Barak, whose center party is in the coalition, expects Prime Minister Bennett to wait until the night before the march to decide on his final route to avert a potential conflict.

"It's not always worth paying this price for a demonstration that's just about spectacle and little else," he said.

Speaking in Gaza, a senior Islamic Jihad official, Khaled Al-Batsh, said continuing the flag march would be a "message of war" against the Palestinians.

"The Palestinian people will face a flag march and the resistance will do all it has to do to protect the Al Aqsa mosque and holy sites," Batsh said in a statement.

To note, Israel reaffirmed a longstanding agreement with Muslim authorities that prevented Jewish prayers at the contested holy site of Jerusalem on Sunday.

Three Jewish minors, ordered to stay away for 15 days by police after they prostrated and recited biblical prayers during a tour of the complex, challenged the ban at the Jerusalem Judge's Court. The court defended the three children.

Police argued that the petitioners had interfered with the officers' duties and threatened public order. However, Judge Zion Saharai, although stating that he did not intend to interfere in law enforcement policies, said they did not "raise concerns about harm to national security, public safety or individual security".