On the evening of Tuesday, 6/27/2023, coinciding with the Day of Arafat, the most sacred day for Muslims throughout the year, the Hebrew “Ynet” website, affiliated with the newspaper “Yudaot Ahronoth,” published a news report that dealt with an escalation in the Zionist security and legal dealings with the Bab Mosque. mercy. 

According to “Ynet,” the Zionist occupation police submitted a request today to the occupation magistrate court “to extend the closure of (Bab al-Rahma offices) on Eid al-Adha on the pretext of assessing the security situation based on the events of the month of Ramadan and that the place was used by Palestinian youth during those past events.” 

What is noticeable here is the occupation police’s use of the term “offices,” which indicates that the occupation authorities do not recognize the existence of the prayer hall, and treat it as a building containing offices that can be closed at any moment, under any pretext. 

In this context, Ziad Ibhais, a researcher specializing in sacred affairs, points out that the occupation police submits a request to the court every six months, and the court in turn responds to it with an extension.

Ibhais says: “From the beginning, they considered the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall to be the offices of a (terrorist organization), which is the Islamic Heritage Committee, and this was the basis of the occupation court’s decision to close it on 3/1/2003.” 

Ibhais believed that what is new here is the occupation’s insistence on re-closing the Gate of Mercy as a long-term goal. 

As for Samer Khalil, a specialist in Zionist affairs, he saw that this escalation could be read from a second angle, which is that the occupation is seeking to enforce its laws and definitions inside Al-Aqsa and its courtyards, which is a very dangerous matter.