Raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque

Policy Brief Program

April 2023

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Al-Aqsa Raids:

• On April 4, Israeli police raided Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, injuring 37 worshippers and arresting over 350. 
  • Video footage of the raid shows police and riot-control forces firing stun grenades and severely beating worshippers with batons and rifles.
  • Israeli police claim that the raids were prompted by “masked agitators” who barricaded themselves inside the mosque with fireworks and stones in order to attack Jews visiting the compound. 
  • However, others have accused Israeli forces of raiding the mosque to assert Israeli sovereignty over the site and assault worshippers during Ramadan. 
• Over 2,000 Jewish visitors entered the compound on April 9 and 10 for Passover, fueling tensions further.
  • While these visits were permitted by compound authorities, the Jerusalem Governorate and the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem have labeled the visits as “storming Al-Aqsa” and accused Jewish visitors of attempting to “Judaize” the compound.

Military and Political Response:

• Following the raids, 16 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on April 5 and 6, hitting one building in the city of Sderot but causing no injuries. 
  • Shortly after, Israel attacked several Hamas facilities in Gaza. 
• After an April 7 meeting in Beirut, Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh denounced Israeli “aggression” and called on “all Palestinian organizations to unify their ranks and intensify their resistance against the Zionist occupation.”
• Similarly, Palestinian Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh warned that Israeli attacks on the compound during Ramadan could turn the site into a “battlefield.”
• Israel’s neighbors immediately condemned the raids, with Jordan threatening “catastrophic consequences” for further incursions and Egypt labeling the raid as a “repeat terrorist act.”

Background:

• The Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem houses both Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, and the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
• Since the 1967 Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, the compound has been governed by a “status quo” agreement between Israel and the Jordanian Islamic Waqf.
  • According to the agreement, the Waqf controls entrance to the mosque itself while Israel manages the perimeter of the site.
• Prior to the raids, Hamas called on Ramadan worshippers to defend the compound against Jewish visitors planning a traditional lamb sacrifice for Passover.
  • The Temple Mount Administration, a far-right Jewish organization, has advocated for the sacrifice to assert Jewish prayer rights within the compound, handing out flyers “promising a financial reward for those arrested” while attempting the sacrifice.
  • While the sacrifice is mandated by the Torah, most Jewish groups have not engaged in the practice since ancient times. 
  • Despite the site’s holy status in Judaism, Jewish prayer is prohibited at the compound by both Israeli law and the Chief Rabbinate to avoid disrupting the delicate status quo.