WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is “very concerned” at the sight of growing tensions on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, where security has been tightened since a terrorist attack last week.
“The United States is very concerned about tensions surrounding the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, a site holy to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and calls upon the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to make a good faith effort to reduce tensions and to find a solution that assures public safety and the security of the site and maintains the status quo,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement on Wednesday night. “The United States will continue to closely monitor the developments.”
After a terror attack last week at the holy site resulted in the deaths of two Israeli police officers, Israel’s government implemented metal detectors at its entrances— a change to the status quo in the eyes of worshipers, who have taken to ever-growing protests in recent days.
On Wednesday, the Wakf Islamic trust instructed preachers and imams in Jerusalem not to deliver sermons in the city’s mosques on Friday and instead attend prayers adjacent to the Temple Mount. full story