High Court raises wartime limit on Western Wall, Temple Mount access from 50 to 100

Following petitions filed by religious leaders angry that the court allowed hundreds at a protest, court says it’s ‘balancing security’ with the ‘right to freedom of religion and worship’

The High Court of Justice on Sunday ruled to increase the number of people allowed to gather at the Western Wall and the Temple Mount amid the ongoing war with Iran from 50 to 100, following petitions filed by religious leaders over the previous day.

The petitions were filed against the backdrop of an interim ruling issued by the court on Saturday that allowed 600 people to gather for an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square despite the Home Front Command restrictions against large gatherings during wartime. That protest was violently dispersed by police, who claimed that the attendance had exceeded the 600-participant limit.

The move to allow the protest infuriated ultra-Orthodox leaders and coalition lawmakers, who accused the court of operating on a double standard as holy sites in Jerusalem remained closed to the vast majority of worshipers during the week-long Passover festival.

In its Sunday ruling, the court said it would continue to hold hearings on the matter in the coming days and ordered the IDF Home Front Command and Israel Police to explain why there was not a policy in place that allows for “balancing security needs with the right to freedom of religion and worship.”

During the debate, High Court President Isaac Amit lamented that the Western Wall, the “soul bird of the Jewish world,” was completely empty and declared: “Freedom to demonstrate and freedom of worship and religion carry the same constitutional weight.”

The ruling came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the chorus of coalition lawmakers and religious leaders in lambasting the court, saying on X: “While Jews are restricted during the holiday from praying at the Western Wall, the High Court of Justice has approved a left-wing demonstration in Tel Aviv.”

“Freedom of protest is important, but freedom of prayer is no less important. During wartime, the only authority determining security arrangements is the Home Front Command,” the premier wrote.

Opposition politicians immediately hit back at the premier’s statement, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid saying, “Netanyahu continues to incite during wartime. While survivors are still being searched for among the ruins in Haifa, the only thing that brings Netanyahu out of his bunker is the attempt to divide the nation and incite against judges.”

“If Netanyahu is so against protests, why hasn’t he condemned the Haredi draft dodgers who protested this morning against enlistment at the IDF Induction Base?” he asked.

Responding on X, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz posted that “the war we are all in is against Iran and not against the High Court of Justice, which made a decision in accordance with the guidelines of the Home Front Command. Enough sowing despair and division among the people during wartime!”

In a post on X, The Democrats chairman Yair Golan claimed that Netanyahu is “in a panic,” due to his worsening domestic political position. “Like a dog returning to its vomit, Netanyahu is back to inciting against the High Court and against ‘the left.'”

Earlier Sunday, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on the government to ignore the court’s “illegal” and “reckless” decision, urging the cabinet to instruct law enforcement to enforce Home Front Command restrictions on public gatherings in defiance of the court ruling.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also joined in, casting the court’s Saturday ruling “problematic and not right,” and calling on the judges to allow “small groups” to ascend the Temple Mount and worship at the Western Wall.

He further stated that there must not be “one law for the Square, and another for the Mount,” referring to Habima and the Temple Mount, respectively.

Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party issued a similar statement of disapproval of the court’s ruling the night before, accusing it of “allowing protesters to show contempt for the law just because they are protesting against the State of Israel,” and suggested that any judge who would issue such rulings is not “on Israel’s side.”

Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yitzhak Yosef went even further, calling the High Court “the enemy of Judaism” for issuing the ruling on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.

Backing up Yosef’s remarks, MK Moshe Gafni, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah faction, asserted that the chief rabbi should replace Chief Justice Amit as High Court president.

Yosef recognizes the “sensitivity and complexity” of ruling on issues related to “values sacred to the Jewish people,” Gafni declared.