MK Glick Petitions High Court Over Har HaBayis Ban

The Israeli High Court may soon be drawn into a dispute over a government ban on Knesset members visiting the Har HaBayis.

The Jerusalem Post reports that MK Yehudah Glick (Likud) submitted a petition to the Court on Tuesday, requesting that it lift the ban imposed on MKs by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for security reasons.

Netanyahu reportedly met with senior security officials on Monday to review the policy, but no change was announced.

Glick contends that the prime minister exceeded his authority when he instructed the police to bar MKs from the Har HaBayis, and that it constitutes violation of the freedom of religion. It should be noted that leading poskim have ruled many times that for reasons of ritual purity no Jews should enter the site.

The Knesset Ethics Committee decided in January to allow MKs to enter the site, in coordination with the police. But Mr. Netanyahu has not rescinded his orders to police to bar MKs from entering.