National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount this morning (Wednesday) to mark its reopening after 13 days in which it was closed to Jews.
Business owner? Come see if you can get a loan of one million NIS on excellent terms • Promoter
The visit took place under heightened security.
The head of the Temple Mount Administration, Shimshon Elbaum, congratulated the minister: "We are blessed to have a minister who places the Temple at the top of his joy and visits it time and time again and reminds us all of the rock of our existence in this country."
MK Moshe Gafni responded with an attack: "The ascent to the Temple Mount is an attack on the sanctity of the holiest place for the Jewish people and on the status quo in which all the great men of Israel and the chief rabbis of their generations opposed the ascent of Jews to the place."
"Your ascent there involves a strict prohibition of obligatory religious duty for you and all those accompanying you. It does not demonstrate sovereignty; on the contrary, it constitutes sacrilege and causes unnecessary incitement in the Muslim world and not only there. I call on you to cease ascending the Temple Mount, our holy place."
The Temple Mount was closed to Jews for the last days of the Muslim month of Ramadan. The Temple Mount then remained closed for the three days of Eid al-Fitr, days when the Mount was empty of worshippers.
English 
Hebrew