3 Waqf Officials Likely to Stand Trial for Attacking Archaeologists on Temple Mount
Three members of the Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian body that oversees the Temple Mount, will likely stand trial for allegedly attacking a group of archaeologists at the site.
The Israel Police have gathered enough evidence to bring the men to trial for a confrontation that took place on July 27, when the archaeologists were touring the site, Ynet reported.
“This looked liked the beginning of a lynch. They punched and they kicked,” one of the archaeologists told police, according to Ynet. Other members of the group of six archaeologists also are expected to testify against the Waqf officials before an indictment is filed, Ynet reported.
The suspects are all residents of eastern Jerusalem, and deny the charges, according to the report.
The archaeologists’ group included Zachi Dvira, who heads a Temple Mount project in which volunteers sift through hundreds of tons of earth moved from the site by the Waqf and dumped without trying to salvage artifacts.
The group reportedly was asked to leave after one of the archaeologists bent down to retrieve a stone that Waqf officials said was an olive and asserted he was not allowed to pick up. Eight Waqf members reportedly surrounded the group and verbally and physically attacked the archaeologists.
Dvira said in a on Facebook that he filmed part of the attack on his cell phone, but Waqf officials took the phone and deleted the video. According to the Facebook post, Zachi was beaten and kicked in the stomach.
The officials were arrested following the incident.
Jewish visitors can only ascend the Temple Mount the mount — revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — during limited visiting hours and are forbidden from doing anything resembling worship such as kneeling, singing, dancing or rending their clothes.
“We are unhurt but shaken. This incident has only strengthened our resolve to study the Temple Mount – all periods of the Temple Mount – and share the archaeological truths about its history in an attempt to encourage educated discussion about this most holy and also contested site,” the archaeologists wrote in their Temple Mount Sifting Project blog post.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
