On Sunday, August 3, 2025, Israeli officials once again broke long-standing, negotiated arrangements for managing the presence of Jewish visitors at al-Aqsa Mosque, sending a shock wave among observers.

The date coincided with Tisha b’Av on the Jewish calendar, which is the anniversary of the destruction of the two ancient Jewish temples and marks the saddest day of the year, a day destined for tragedy.

“The [Israeli] occupation has changed the Status Quo at al-Aqsa Mosque on the ground, and no longer recognizes the Hashemite Jordanian custodianship of al-Aqsa,” said Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, a member of the Jerusalem Waqf Council and head of the Supreme Islamic Council.1 He said the changes to what is referred to as the “Status Quo” represent a turning point that will have significant repercussions. Jordan is the agreed-upon custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the Old City, and its guards screen Muslim worshippers as they enter the site.

In an unprecedented step from a government official, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, an extremist who has focused during his tenure on cruel treatment of Palestinian prisoners and advancing a far-right agenda of land acquisition and settlement, led a group of Jewish visitors in prayer in front of the Dome of the Rock.2

Prior to Ben-Gvir and other right-wing politicians joining the cabinet, Israeli police typically detained or asked Jewish visitors who tried to pray at the site to leave, in a nod to the Status Quo. In April, a member of Knesset participated in a prayer service on what Jews call the “Temple Mount” and said that, 14 years earlier, he had been arrested for doing the exact same thing.3 Last Tisha b’Av, Ben-Gvir also visited the grounds of al-Aqsa Mosque and stated, “Our policy is to allow prayer.”4

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wary of the international repercussions, issued a routine statement denying that the Status Quo had been changed.5 But the behavior of his minister said otherwise.

Ben-Gvir is trying to strengthen his position as the leader of the extreme Jewish right, according to analyst Hassan al-Deek.6 “This explains his intense enthusiasm for al-Aqsa [Mosque] and his public statements that embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who quickly issued a statement—that no one took seriously—when he said that the government is maintaining the Status Quo.”

The provocations this time inspired a Jordanian response, with Jordanian lawyer Ramzi Rushdi al-Dabk launching an initiative to protect al-Aqsa Mosque and its Hashemite custodianship. He says that the group will submit a report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague to document right-wing breaking of the Status Quo under the protection of the Israeli police. He linked the submission to an investigation underway at the ICC into crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT) since 2014. Al-Dabk also said that he will seek support from the Jordanian public prosecutor.7

The Status Quo arrangements were initiated during the Ottoman Empire to quell infighting between religious groups in Jerusalem, a city holy to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It established that no changes would be made at holy sites without the agreement of all the parties. Such negotiations can be extremely detailed, and transgressions volatile.

In September 1996, a deadly uprising ensued when Israeli authorities completed a tunnel underneath al-Aqsa Mosque. Jordanian officials, who remain the custodians of the mosque, blocked the tunnel opening. The Second Intifada was also sparked by Ariel Sharon’s September 2000 visit to the site, flanked by hundreds of security guards. At that time, he was in the government opposition; today it is Israeli government officials who are pushing aside Status Quo requirements.

As a result of Sharon’s visit in 2000, Waqf Department officials stopped allowing non-Muslim visitors to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock buildings. Israeli authorities, on the other hand, took sole control over non-Muslim visitation to the site, over time gradually increasing the numbers of mainly Jews and non-Muslim tourists entering the compound.8

On August 3, Israeli police allowed six groups of Jewish visitors to enter the grounds of al-Aqsa, spacing them only six minutes apart. The result was more than 3,500 Jewish visitors in one day, many of them far-right provocateurs visiting the grounds at once. More than that, however, the procedures violated previous instructions that stipulated a half-hour interval between each group entering the mosque.

An official from the Waqf Department told Jerusalem Story that Israeli police are no longer adhering to the instructions they themselves established, including visiting hours for Jews. Initially, Dung Gate or Bab al-Maghariba, the entranceway to al-Haram al-Sharif used by non-Muslims, was opened from 8:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., and from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. After that, the gate was opened 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., and then 7:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.—doubling the morning time allowed for visitors—and then also expanded from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m., increasing afternoon hours.

Once visitors have passed through the gate and its heavy security, they are allowed to stay on the grounds of al-Aqsa for an allotted time. In the afternoon, this window has also increased from one hour to one and a half hours, so that there are some Jewish visitors present on the grounds of al-Aqsa for a total of four hours.

During this period, Muslim worshippers are prohibited from entering al-Haram al-Sharif. On Jewish holidays, the prohibitions are even more stringent. Israeli police decide which Muslims enter and which do not. Generally speaking, the grounds of the third holiest mosque in Islam are emptied of Muslims while Jewish visitors enter the space and, in some cases, try to pray at the site that they believe will one day be the site for a restored Jewish temple. These steps are in defiance of the unwritten Status Quo understandings established in 2014 between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and then US Secretary of State John Kerry.9

They are also breaking religious norms in Judaism. Jewish groups entering the mosque are supposed to traverse a certain route and not deviate from it, says Eran Tzidkiyahu, from the Forum for Regional Thinking:

Their path then goes north, says Tzidkiyahu, effectively circling the Dome of the Rock. They stop on the northern side, looking south, near the Waqf Department offices, and look directly at the Dome of the Rock, which is in front of them. After that, they return, their eyes fixed on the dome, without turning their backs to it. They walk westward toward the south until they reach the Bab al-Silsila (Chain Gate). There, they leave the compound.

This route was established by state rabbis, who for many years warned Jews against ascending to the center of al-Aqsa Mosque. “Most Jews and clerics do not ascend to the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Temple Mount, because there is a complete prohibition against approaching it for fear of desecrating the Holy of Holies.” It is believed that only certain Jews who are ritually pure can enter the Holy of Holies, when other religious requirements have occurred.

Now, however, another group of religious Jews is refusing to adhere to this route. One of their leaders is Moshe Feiglin, who has tried to enter the actual Dome of the Rock, arguing that Jerusalem’s occupation abolished previous religious restrictions. After Israeli troops entered the Old City in June 1967, Rabbi Goldin immediately entered the Dome of the Rock, for example. Goldin later said that this exception was due to the war, and Israel’s rabbis subsequently expanded the allowed route for visitors as far away as possible from the Holy of Holies. While police do not enforce a particular route, extremist groups are pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable.

Legislator Amit Halevi even proposed a law in June 2023 that would divide the grounds of al-Haram al-Sharif between Muslims and Jews, with both entering from the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock.11

Tzidkiyahu says that these moves create new facts on the ground. “Everyone knew that the minister of national security, backed by the Israeli government, was planning to carry out a widespread desecration of al-Aqsa on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple Mount [the Second Temple, destroyed in 70 CE], especially since Jewish groups were calling for 5,000 Jews to storm al-Aqsa and assert Jewish rights there,” says Tzidkiyahu.

The Islamic Waqf Council issued a statement before August 3, which said:

Wasfi Kilani, executive director of the Hashemite Fund for the Reconstruction of al-Aqsa Mosque and a member of the Waqf Council, warned of the seriousness of the situation in an interview with Jerusalem-based Akhbar al-Balad on June 30:

Professor Yitzhak Reiter, president of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel and lecturer at Al-Qasemi College and Reichman University, said, “In my opinion, we have long since passed the tipping point and the point of no return. The police control al-Aqsa today. As long as Ben-Gvir is minister of police and this government remains in power, this process will continue gradually but steadily.”14

Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Mahmoud, 82, who was prevented by police from entering al-Haram al-Sharif that August Sunday, told Jerusalem Story, “We are completely helpless in the face of this Jewish chauvinism in Jerusalem. We have no means of pressuring Israel. The Arab and Islamic countries are even more helpless and content with meaningless statements that are not worth the paper they are written on. . . . We don’t want words, but actions.”15

Mahmoud, who lives nearby in Khan Bab al-Zeit in the Old City, said with despair, “There is no power or strength except with God. The police control al-Aqsa today before entering al-Aqsa Mosque to pray the evening prayer.”