Key Takeaways:
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Security to safeguard worship, not restrict it: Israel’s Ramadan measures are annual, intelligence-based efforts to prevent pre-planned violence and ensure tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers can pray safely at Al-Aqsa – as demonstrated by 80,000 attendees on the first Friday without incident.
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Media distortion of the “status quo”: While the Jordanian Waqf continues administering the Temple Mount and Israel even extended visiting hours for non-Muslims, The Guardian falsely framed routine security steps as an attack on Muslim prayer rights.
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Erasing Jewish ties and miscasting history: Coverage ignored the Temple Mount’s centrality to Judaism, labeled Jewish visitors as “settlers,” and misleadingly blamed Israel for past violence such as the Second Intifada and Hamas’ October 7 attack – both premeditated terror campaigns, not spontaneous reactions.
Ramadan began this past week, and Israel’s policy, as it is every year, is to ensure the maximum amount of safety for all Muslim worshipers, enabling thousands to make their way to Al-Aqsa Mosque for prayers. The time of joy and celebration requires careful planning by the Israeli security establishment to ensure that the month-long celebration remains peaceful.
Heightened security measures are not without reason. Ramadan has in the past seen a rise in violence on the Temple Mount and in Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Palestinian rioters, many of whom carried Hamas flags, have thrown rocks, firecrackers, and other projectiles at Israeli security forces and towards the Western Wall, resulting in riot control measures by Israeli security. These rioters have attempted to disrupt the peaceful prayer services that the vast majority of Muslim worshipers seek to attend.
Related Reading: Ramadan Violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque: Palestinian Riots & the Israeli Response
Even with the knowledge of violent riots in years past, each year, the media feigns surprise when Israel takes security measures to ensure the safety of the thousands who make their way to the Temple Mount during the holy month. It is not an act of discrimination, but rather the opposite, as Israel seeks to uphold the religious freedom of every person of every faith living in Israel.
Tens of Thousands of Worshipers Set to Safely Arrive for the first Friday of Ramadan
On the first Friday of Ramadan, Israel Police are working to ensure the safe arrival of tens of thousands of worshippers to Jerusalem’s Old City.
Full freedom of worship is being safeguarded… pic.twitter.com/nARUaKDDtm
— Israel Police (@israelpolice) February 20, 2026
On the first Friday of Ramadan this year, 80,000 Muslim worshipers prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Only seeking to portray Israel as an entity that strips away religious freedom from minorities, much of the Western media did not report on this successful day of peaceful prayer.
The Guardian, however, took it an extra step further, falsifying a story on how “Al-Aqsa is a detonator,” referring to Israel’s alleged destruction of the status quo of the Temple Mount. By framing Israel as seeking to eliminate Muslim prayer rights and endanger the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the outlet substitutes alarmist rhetoric for the observable reality of thousands of Muslims praying without incident.
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Ramadan has only just begun, and already, The Guardian is desperately looking for the false story about how Israel is destroying Muslim prayer rights on the Temple Mount and attempting to set fire to the entire Middle East.Let’s break it down. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/M8VwfTtTKO
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 22, 2026
The Guardian’s intention to warp the reality of the Temple Mount begins with the complete disregard that it is not only a holy site for Muslims, but also the holiest site for the Jewish people. It is the site where both the First and Second Temples once stood and, to this day, is a place of extreme significance to the Jewish people.
Related Reading: Jewish Ties to the Temple Mount – What’s the Story?
Since Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, the status quo of the Temple Mount has remained largely unchanged, with the Jordanian Waqf continuing to administer the site. Until recently, Jews were not allowed to pray using sheets of paper on the Temple Mount. Yet, The Guardian does not question why Jewish prayer is considered such a “provocation.” Instead, it describes the “400 settlers” who went up to their holiest site as provocative, insinuating that any Jew, no matter where in Israel they live, is a “settler,” and therefore not a legitimate resident of the country.
Because the Temple Mount is closed during the afternoon to non-Muslims throughout Ramadan, Israeli authorities extended the morning visiting hours by one extra hour. Rather than restricting access to all worshipers, this adjustment modestly expanded it, allowing more time for non-Muslim visitors while maintaining the existing framework of the status quo.
Moreover, the status quo allows Israeli security forces to take measures necessary to prevent violence. In the past, pre-planned violence has been executed on the Temple Mount during Ramadan. For this reason, in the weeks leading up to the holy month, the Israeli police noted that they have “conducted extensive preparations, field tours, coordination meetings, and synchronization with all relevant authorities and partner security agencies,” ensuring “thorough readiness training for officers, with a strong emphasis on mission awareness and professionalism.”
Heightened security measures are not a rupture of the status quo but a practical effort to prevent escalation and ensure peaceful prayer can occur throughout the entire month. When arrests are made, they are carried out on the basis of intelligence assessments aimed at preventing planned outbreaks of violence by individuals suspected of instigating unrest. Arrests are not made as part of sweeping restrictions on all worshipers.
Still, The Guardian draws comparisons to the start of the Second Intifada and the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’ name for the October 7 massacre, thus incorrectly blaming Israel for those eruptions of violence. Both the Second Intifada and October 7 were premeditated campaigns of terrorism – not spontaneous reactions to Israeli policy on the Temple Mount.
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▪️Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mt in 2000 did not ignite the Second Intifada. As the Palestinians have readily admitted, the campaign of violence had been planned long before.▪️Hamas may have named its Oct. 7 attack after al-Aqsa, but does The Guardian seriously… pic.twitter.com/ol4GhUG31Y
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 22, 2026
Consistent security assessments require Israel to take preemptive action that enables the safety and freedom of all people. This is not Israel “shattering the status quo” of the Temple Mount in an attempt to provoke violent unrest from Muslim worshipers, but an annual security measure to prevent violence and ensure that Ramadan remains peaceful and safe for everyone.
Over the course of the month, tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers will take part in prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The security measures implemented by the Israeli police and security forces only underscore Israel’s commitment to freedom of religion for all faiths.
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