Israeli raids at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound have intensified during the Jewish holiday season.
The Jerusalem Governorate says 11,409 Israelis entered the site between September 12 and October 1. Most came during Sukkot, the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles that ran from September 26 to October 2. On some days, the count passed 2,000 in a single morning.
Under the long-standing status quo, Al-Aqsa is administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, linked to Jordan’s Ministry of Awqaf, as a place of worship for Muslims. Since 2003, Israeli police have allowed non-Muslim visitors to enter through the Mughrabi Gate under escort. That arrangement has held for more than two decades, even as Palestinian and Jordanian officials have repeatedly asked for the incursions to stop.
This year, the governorate says the visits included public rituals that go beyond quiet tours. Its statement lists collective prayers, prostration, chanting, dancing, singing, clapping, and the sounding of a horn inside the mosque’s courtyards. It also notes the presence of Israeli ministers, rabbis, and other officials.
Why does this become news now, and not last year, or five years ago? Because the numbers are higher, or because the rituals are louder, or because the timing sits on top of other moves in Jerusalem?
On September 21, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa compound before joining prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur. The next day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the mosque compound itself with hundreds of others. Later in Sukkot, Ben-Gvir returned and said, “we are the owners of the place in Al-Aqsa,” according to reports of his remarks.
During parts of the holiday, Israeli authorities closed roads around the Old City to ease access to the Western Wall. The governorate says some Palestinian shopkeepers in the Cotton Merchants Market were told to close their businesses to make room for Jewish prayers in the area. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel described dozens of owners of shops, cafes, and restaurants being forced to shut during Sukkot.
Who benefits when a religious holiday becomes a moment to test limits at a holy site? The people who want to show strength, or the leaders who need a signal to their base, or both? And who pays the price when a morning prayer turns into a political stage?
The Waqf has warned that the rising incursions during Jewish holidays pose a serious threat to the site’s stability. Preachers at Al-Aqsa have said the same in public statements. Their concern is not only about the number of visitors, but about what the rituals inside the courtyards might mean for the future of the status quo.
Israeli right-wing groups had called for large-scale entries into Al-Aqsa during Sukkot. Some of those groups advocate for changes to how the compound is used and who can pray there. Their calls came as the holidays began with the Jewish New Year on September 12 and 13, followed by Yom Kippur on September 21 and 22, then Sukkot.
If the story were framed the other way, what would it look like? A report focused on Palestinian worshippers turned away, or on the Waqf’s daily work to keep the site open, or on the Jordanian role that rarely makes headlines until something breaks. Would that story run as high, or as often, in the same news cycle?
The governorate’s numbers are specific: 593 entrants on September 13 after a day of closure, 1,678 on September 20 and 21, and 9,138 during the first five days of Sukkot from September 27 to October 1. The count does not include entries after October 1, when Simchat Torah was celebrated on October 3. It also does not capture what happened inside the compound beyond what officials chose to list.
What would it take for this pattern to stop being news? Fewer visitors, or fewer rituals, or a decision by Israeli authorities to enforce the old rules more strictly? Or does the story only end when someone decides the risk of escalation is higher than the gain from another headline?
Local communities in East Jerusalem feel these moves first. Shop owners lose income when they are told to close. Families change their routes when roads are blocked. Worshippers adjust their plans when access is limited. The effects are small in any single day, but they add up across a holiday season that now includes more than 11,000 entries at Al-Aqsa.
The question is not whether the holidays will pass. They will. The question is what remains after the last visitor leaves and the police pull back. Does the site return to the quiet that the status quo was meant to protect, or does it carry the weight of another season of tests?
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