Scuffles at Har HaBayis Over Israeli Police Officer With Kippah

Scuffles broke out at Har HaBayis on Monday after guards at the Al-Aksa mosque refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter for a routine security check because he was wearing a kippah.

“This morning a number of local individuals on the Temple Mount closed and locked the doors of the Dome of the Rock, preventing police from entering. Police units remained at the scene outside until the doors were opened several hours later from those who had locked the doors,” police said in a statement.

Five people were detained for questioning, the statement also said.

Firas Dibs, a spokesman for the Islamic authority that oversees the site, said dozens of worshippers scuffled with police after the guards closed the doors to the mosque and barricaded themselves inside. He says the director of the mosque was lightly wounded.

Dibs said the police carry out routine security checks every morning, and that the policeman was only prevented from entering because he was wearing a kippah.

Gedolei Yisroel do not permit Jews to enter Har Habayis.