Twenty-one suspects were detained or arrested for questioning after a group arrived at one of the gates to the compound and attempted to force its way inside, in what police described as an attempt to bring a young goat onto the Temple Mount while disrupting public order.<\/p>\n
The incident took place as Jerusalem District police and Border Police forces were deployed around the Old City and the approaches to the Temple Mount as part of security preparations for Friday prayers and to maintain public order at the holy site.<\/p>\n
According to police, officers blocked the group\u2019s path and prevented the suspects from entering the compound. The suspects were later brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate\u2019s Court, which ordered their release. A subsequent police appeal to the Jerusalem District Court was also rejected, and the suspects remained free.<\/p>\n
The attempted sacrifice is connected to Pessah \u00a0Sheni, the date marked one month after Passover for those who were unable to bring the biblical Passover sacrifice at its proper time.<\/p>\n
Several right-wing and Temple Mount activist groups have, for years, attempted to bring goats or lambs into the Old City and toward the Temple Mount around Passover, almost always prompting preemptive police action.<\/p>\n
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam, where it is known to Muslims as al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Attempts by Jewish activists to conduct sacrificial rites there are treated by police as a volatile provocation, particularly during Jewish and Muslim religious periods, because of the site\u2019s extreme sensitivity and the potential for the incident to ignite unrest.<\/p>\n
This was not the first such attempt. Last month, 14 Jewish men and boys were arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle sacrificial goats onto the Temple Mount.<\/p>\n
In 2024, police arrested 21 people suspected of planning Passover sacrifices in Jerusalem, including minors found with goats and others suspected of hiding goats in shopping bags and strollers.<\/p>\n
In 2023, police detained Temple Mount activists with a goat ahead of Passover, while back in 2017, police arrested seven right-wing Jewish activists after members of the Return to Temple Mount movement publicly called on supporters to bring goats to the Old City for sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Police said Sunday that it would continue to act \u201cwith determination\u201d to maintain public order, security<\/a>, and the fabric of life in the Old City and at holy sites in particular.<\/p>\n