Israeli forces close Al-Aqsa compound, block right-wing leader

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police closed access to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, saying they feared unrest after leaflets were distributed around the city calling to remove “Israel’s enemies” from the site.

Police also blocked far-right Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin from entering the holy compound “for security reasons,” Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Feiglin, who was the sole rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their Likud’s party leadership contest last month, said earlier this week he intended to tour the Al-Aqsa compound.

On Sunday Rosenfeld said the site was closed “for the moment, due to possible disturbances,” and confirmed that Jerusalem had been leafleted with flyers calling to “purify the premises from the enemies of Israel.”

The compound, containing the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood, attracting the far-right to pose the rebuilding of the Jewish site on the sanctuary.

Hundreds of Palestinians who performed dawn prayers at the mosque stayed inside the compound amidst the state of tension, including Waqf (Islamic endowments) council officials Sheikh Abdul-Atheim Salhab and Sheikh Azzam Al-Khateib.