Hotovely: Probe police for Temple Mount conduct
10/10/2012 03:36
Likud MK submits request to the Knesset State Control Committee to discuss police conduct on the Temple Mount during Succot.
Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely Photo: Marc Israel Sellem
MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) has submitted an official request to the Knesset State Control Committee for an emergency hearing “to discuss police conduct” on the Temple Mount during the Succot festival.
Several disturbances occurred at the site over the past week when Jewish Temple Mount activists visited the area, prompting hostile reactions from Muslims present at the site.
Both Muslims and Jews, including prominent Likud figure Moshe Feiglin, were arrested in the course of events.
“The conduct of the police, which looks as if it is receiving orders from above, stirs up feelings at the site and constitutes a fatal and disproportionate blow to freedom of religion for Jews wishing to visit their most holy place,” said Hotovely in a press statement.
“The behavior of the police must be examined as well as the arrangement that allows it to harm, without any justification, the [right to] freedom of worship at the site.”
Hotovely called for a similar hearing back in June when Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, founder and director of the Temple Institute organization, was banned by the police from visiting the Temple Mount.