Police detained a Jewish visitor to the Temple Mount on Sunday after he yelled “Mohammad is a pig” at Muslim worshipers at the site.
Another Jewish visitor was detained Sunday after he was caught praying within the compound, and a 14-year-old Jewish teenager was also removed by police for breaking the rules of behavior at the site, police said.
Clashes between Muslim visitors and Israeli border guards have become an almost weekly occurrence on the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is considered Judaism’s holiest site and the third-holiest site in Islam.
Visits by Jews are allowed to the complex, but Jewish prayer is prohibited.
Last Tuesday, riots broke out as police sought to contain a number of incidents in and around the compound. Border guards manning the entrance to the flashpoint holy site blocked a group of Muslim youth from entering after reportedly discovering they carried bottles and other items intended to be used as weapons.
In the clash that ensued, a number of suspects were detained for questioning, including one minor, 13, who was arrested after pelting officers with eggs.
On August 4, a French Christian tourist was assaulted by four Palestinians after waving an Israeli flag in the compound. The man, in his mid-thirties, sustained light injuries to the head and was taken for medical treatment, a police spokeswoman said at the time. He was detained and was facing potential charges of disrupting the public order. Police also arrested the four men suspected of assaulting the tourist, identified as residents of East Jerusalem.
