"I call upon the leaders of the religions residing in the Old City to find a way to restore sanity to the holy city so that everyone can come to the holy sites without encountering hostilities or fears," said rabbi of the Western Wall and the holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, in a special statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
It seems as though the atmosphere in Jerusalem remains tense: Dozens of Arab youth arrived at Ras al-Amud Square in the city's east, where they lobbed stones at police officers and set wooden platforms ablaze in order to block the street. A police force dispersed the crowd.
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Rabinovich claimed that an incitement campaign has been waged for some time by officials from outside Jerusalem, in the context of which baseless announcements have been spread that encourage disturbances and damage to the fabric of the friendly relations between the religions in the Old City.
"The absurd claims of digging beneath the Temple Mount are blatant lies. Those involved in revealing the glorious past of the Jewish people in Jerusalem do not come close to the Temple Mount, not even to the sites about which there is any sort of doubt as to the holiness of the Temple Mount," announced the rabbi.
Rabinovich also asserted that "to claim that the Jews are digging beneath the Temple Mount is like claiming that day is night." According to him, the religious leaders in the Old City advocate for peaceful and quiet lives in order to allow undisrupted prayer at the holy sites.
He continued on to thank the police and the Shin Bet for their hard work to allow worshippers to reach the Western Wall.
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