
 
 
The Temple  Mount is closed to both Arabs and Jews, though many of the latter wished to  visit the site in honor of the Sukkot holiday.  North of the holy site, at the  Lion’s Gate, some 250 Arabs rioted and hurled rocks and bottles at police. One  policeman was lightly injured, and some arrests were made.
The site – the  holiest site in Judaism – was closed by police after Islamic clerics called upon  Arabs to “come and defend the Mount.”  The threat alone was enough to have the  police do the job for them; the area was cordoned off and a helicopter was seen  hovering above the Temple Mount. 
A group of Arabs from central Israel  was arrested on their way to Jerusalem. 
Jewish activists on behalf of  the Temple Mount protested peacefully against the closure in the area of the  Mugrabi Gate, at the Western Wall plaza. “This is chutzpah and total surrender  to Arab incitement,” they said. Large police and Border Guard forces are  deployed around them as well.
A week ago, on the eve of Yom Kippur, 12  police officers were injured in riots instigated by the Waqf [Muslim Trust that  runs the Temple Moun. 
Yehuda Glick, a leading Temple Mount activist,  noted, “The police fulfilled the Arabs’ desire to keep the Jews away. They  learned that if they throw rocks, then the Jews are prevented from coming. After  last week’s incident, the Temple Mount was closed to Jews, but Arabs were  allowed in freely.”