Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has asked his Cabinet and other Knesset Members to tone down their rhetoric regarding the Temple Mount, Channel 2 News reported on Saturday night.
According to the report, Netanyahu has conveyed a message to the MKs that they should show “responsibility and restraint” with respect to the issue of the Temple Mount, especially as tensions rise in the wake of the assassination attempt on Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick.
Netanyahu met with Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein on Saturday night and asked him to pass on the message to the MKs. Netanyahu is reportedly trying to ease tensions, as calls grow to change the rules on the Temple Mount following the shooting of Glick.
Netanyahu recently folded to Jordanian pressure by promising to maintain the discriminatory status quo by which the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) has forbidden Jewish prayer.
In the wake of Glick’s shooting, however, there have been growing calls on Netanyahu to sign regulations that would permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
Israel closed the Temple Mount to all worshipers on Thursday in response to Glick’s shooting, only to reopen the compound hours later following international pressure.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared that Israel's closure of the Temple Mount following Glick’s is tantamount to a "declaration of war."