The chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation will receive NIS 25,000 in compensation after Israel Police confiscated his personal sidearm for almost a year and a half, according to a decision by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Sunday.
Yaacov Hayman, an activist for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, had carried a weapon for years before it was confiscated.
The Temple Mount activist, an immigrant from California, also heads the Yishai Organization for the Establishment of Synagogues on the Temple Mount.
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A district court reversed the decision and police returned the weapon, but Hayman decided to sue the police as well for damages, claiming that the confiscation of his weapon harmed him.
Israel Police claimed that Hayman's gun license was revoked after he sent a letter to the defense minister in 2011. The district court ruled that there was no problem with sending a letter to the defense minister in a democratic country. The release from Sunday did not describe the content of the letter, but it was described at the time as "threatening."
Judge Ilan Sela ruled that Hayman should receive compensation because there was no justification for the revoking of his gun license. The judge also considered that the revoking of the license could have stained Hayman's reputation and the harm to his safety as he lives in east Jerusalem.
"The license was revoked by initiative of then commander of holy places Ofer Ganon. This is an illegal revocation and the police have never given a reasonable reason as to why they confiscated the weapon," said Hayman.
Ben Gvir expressed satisfaction with the decision, saying that Hayman's "only sin" was that he was a Temple Mount activist, adding that the police should be making sure that activists can carry weapons considering the terrorist attack that targeted former MK and Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick.
In 2017, Hayman told JTA that force would likely need to be used to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, referencing the deployment of the National Guard in the US to enforce school desegregation.
“They sent National Guardsmen to line the streets. That’s what it took to end segregation,” Hayman said to JTA. “The same thing needs to happen here. Let the Arabs riot over the Temple Mount, and let them get shot. If you ignore the monster, it just gets bigger.”
