Jewish Visits to Temple Mount Rise by 28%
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem saw nearly 11,000 Israeli Jewish visitors last year, an increase of 28 percent over 2013.
The figures were released by Israel Police through a freedom of information request to the Temple Institute, an organization that encourages Jewish visits to the site and aspires to rebuild the Jewish Temple there.
According to the figures, 10,906 Israeli Jews visited the site in 2014, up from 8,528 in 2013 and an increase of 92 percent over 2009, when 5,658 Jewish visitors arrived.
The Temple Mount, which Muslims revere as the Noble Sanctuary, was the site of repeated clashes this year between Muslims and Jews. The site was closed repeatedly due to the unrest.
Under normal circumstances, Jewish visitors are allowed at the site only three days a week during limited hours and are prohibited from praying there.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
