Palestinians Riot on Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av

Holy Site Fight: Palestinians hold up plastic guns during demonstrations on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Image by getty images

Palestinian rioters threw rocks, firebombs and firecrackers at Israel Police officers on the Temple Mount.

Four police officers were lightly injured in the clashes on Sunday morning, when Jews mark the Tisha b’Av fast and day of mourning to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem’s Holy Temples. Three rioters from eastern Jerusalem were arrested.

Police arrived on the Temple Mount after receiving intelligence that the Palestinians had amassed a stockpile of weapons including rocks, wooden boards, explosives and firebombs in order to attack Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall and Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, the Israel Police said in a statement.

The rioters attacked the police, also wielding iron bars and spraying the officers with an unknown liquid, when they arrived on the Temple Mount. The police pushed back at the rioters, causing them to retreat inside the Al Aksa Mosque. Police closed the doors of the mosque, leaving the rioters inside, the statement said. This restored peace to the Temple Mount and allowed visits to continue to take place, according to the Israel police.

“We will continue to show zero tolerance for any attempt to disturb public order and undermine the status quo,” the police said in a statement, which said that rioters will be arrested and “brought to justice.”

A similar riot occurred last year on Tisha b’Av on the Temple Mount.