Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stormed the Western Wall plaza in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday, under heavy security, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
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According to the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, Netanyahu arrived at the Western Wall, under heavy guard, without immediately providing further details.
Netanyahu’s storming of the Western Wall plaza at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound comes at a time when Jerusalem is witnessing heightened Israeli security measures in preparation for Yom Kippur, which begins Sunday evening and continues until Monday evening.
The Jerusalem Governorate said on Saturday that settler groups had called for a gathering opposite the Gate of Mercy on the outside of the Al-Aqsa Mosque wall at midnight to perform Talmudic rituals.
The governorate added, in a statement, that the calls include holding what is called “Slehut”, which are Jewish prayers.
She noted that Talmudic rituals and prayers were held at the same site last Thursday evening.
She explained that these calls come around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and their attempts to impose Jewish religious rituals and practices in the area, which violate the sanctity of the Islamic cemetery and the area surrounding the Gate of Mercy, according to the statement.
With the start of the Jewish holiday season, settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque have recently increased under the protection of the Israeli police, coinciding with tightened security measures in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem and the area surrounding the mosque, and a heavy deployment of Israeli forces.
The Jewish holidays began with the Hebrew New Year on September 12 and 13, and continue with Yom Kippur on the 21st of the same month, then Sukkot between September 26 and October 2, culminating in the completion of the Torah on October 3.
Since 2003, the Israeli police have allowed settlers to unilaterally storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem has repeatedly demanded that these incursions be stopped, without any response from the Israeli authorities.
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