Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin not to ascend the Temple Mount.
In a post on his Facebook page Sunday night, Feiglin said that Israel Police Commander Moshe Bareket had called to inform him of Netanyahu's orders.
The Wakf, the Muslim religious administration charged with managing the Temple Mount site, warned the Prime Minister's Office that a visit on Monday from Feiglin would touch off “World War Three,” the Jewish Press reported, citing a “source close to Feiglin.”
Feiglin had planned to visit the Temple Mount on Monday, the 19th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, as he does on the 19th of every month.
He also wrote on Facebook that Netanyahu “has no legal authority to give such an instruction, since it violates three Basic Laws.” Feiglin cited Israel's Basic Laws that allow freedom of movement, freedom of access to holy sites in Jerusalem and immunity to Knesset members. Both Feiglin and Netanyahu are members of the Likud Party.
“When, just before Jerusalem Liberation Day, the prime minister orders an Israeli Knesset member that — contrary to Israeli law — he not to go up to the Temple Mount, it means that the prime minister has officially and openly revoked Israeli sovereignty on the Mount and given it to the Muslim Wakf,” Feiglin wrote.
In March, Israel Police prevented Feiglin from visiting the Temple Mount on the second day of Passover after learning that hundreds of Arabs planned to protest the visit. The lawmaker had coordinated his visit in advance with security officials.
Earlier in the same month, Feiglin was prevented from entering the Dome of the Rock and then removed from the Temple Mount. He had asked to be allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock in his capacity as a Knesset member.
Feiglin was detained by Israel Police in January for praying on the Temple Mount. He also was arrested in October for praying at the site. In December he led a minyan at the site that was caught on video and widely distributed.
