Four extremist Jews from Jerusalem and a West Bank settlements were arrested Thursday on suspicion of planning to enter illegally into Temple Mount and sacrifice a goat for Passover.
Police found the goat at one of the suspects’ homes, all in their twenties, who were influenced by the “Returning to the Mountain” movement of extremist Jews. The group advocated for the construction of a third Jewish temple on Temple Mount, once the site of the two biblical temples.
Last week “Returning to the Mountain” distributed a flyer offering a cash prize to anyone who successfully offered animal sacrifice on Temple Mount, in accordance with biblical practices during the holy month of Ramadan. The money rewards were promised as well to anyone arrested while attempting to do so.
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The police said in a statement: “In recent days, false publications have been circulating on social media about the Temple Mount and the holy places, as well as posts encouraging extremists to be arrested by the police in an attempt to reach the Temple Mount and act illegally.”
The police added, “Israel Police is operating in Jerusalem and other districts alongside all security bodies, around the clock, overtly and covertly, against anyone who tries to disturb the order and act in violation of the status quo on the Temple Mount and other holy places around the city.”
The police further warned the public “not to give a stage… to extreme fringes that try or call for disturbing order and law. The status quo on the Temple Mount and in other holy places in the city of Jerusalem has been and will continue to be preserved at all times.”
In response to the police’s preventive arrests “The Returning to the Mountain” issued a statement: “The police boasts it is granting freedom of worship to all religions but the reality is shameful.”
