Biden Commits to Jordan’s King to Continue Ban on Christian, Jewish Worship on Jerusalem’s Holy Temple Mount

At a time when the Jewish state is battling an existential threat, President Joe Biden assured the Jordanian king that Jewish and Christian prayer would continue to be banned — under what is known as the “status quo” — on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the holiest site in the Jewish faith and revered by Christians worldwide, so as not to inflame Muslim anger.

On Monday, President Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed the Gaza war at the White House, with Abdullah advocating for an immediate end to the war, even with an undefeated Hamas still ruling the coastal enclave. This despite the fact that the U.S.-designated Islamic terror group, whose charter calls for the murder of Jews and the elimination of the Jewish state through relentless jihad, perpetrated the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history in October, in an operation stemming from its radical beliefs. 

The attack, which Hamas dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” after the Temple Mount, saw some 3,000 terrorists burst into Israel by land, sea, and air, and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival while others went door-to-door hunting for Jewish men, women, and children in local towns who were then subject to torture, rape, execution, immolation, and kidnapping. 

It resulted in nearly 1,200 dead inside the Jewish state, over 5,300 more wounded, and at least 242 hostages of all ages taken — of which nearly 140 remain in Gaza. The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.

The Jordanian monarch also warned against an impending Israeli ground operation in Rafah, despite the location and rescue of two Israeli hostages there on Monday morning, as he insisted “we must not ignore the situation in the West Bank and in the holy sites of Jerusalem.”

According to a White House readout of the meeting, President Biden agreed, and “underscored the importance of upholding the status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, recognizing Jordan’s crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem holds a paramount place in Jewish history, serving as the ancient capital under King David and housing the First and Second Temples, central to Jewish worship and pilgrimage for millennia. Contrary to claims of its Islamic sanctity, Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, though it is mentioned nearly 700 times in the Hebrew Bible. The city’s deep Jewish roots are also evidenced by its continuous Jewish presence, and the enduring practice of facing Jerusalem in prayer, underscoring a long-standing connection that predates and outstrips its significance in Islamic tradition, where Mecca holds primacy. 

After it was captured by them in the 7th century, early Muslims knowingly built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the holiest site in Judaism. Despite repeated statements from Palestinian and Jordanian officials denying any Jewish ties to the Mount, a 1925 guide by the Supreme Moslem Council confirms the Temple Mount’s ancient sanctity, identifying it as Solomon’s Temple site, and the location, “according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord.” 

It is now regarded as the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, and has become a key conflict point in Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

The historic “status quo” of the Temple Mount refers to an understanding and set of policies that govern the access and management of the site, in an arrangement meant to maintain the existing state of religious and political affairs concerning it. 

While Israel officially controls access to the site and is responsible for its security, the Jordanian Waqf, an Islamic trust, has been the custodian of the site for over half a century, responsible for its management and for arranging Muslim worship. 

The arrangement was reached with Jordan in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel’s overwhelming victory culminated in the liberation from Jordan of east Jerusalem where the ancient Temple Mount and City of David are located. At the time, then Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan left the Mount under control of the Waqf, in a gesture of goodwill that eventually led to the removal of Jewish historical signs by the Waqf and discriminatory limitations on Jewish worshippers by police to avoid conflict with Muslims, often closing the Mount to Jews during pre-planned Muslim riots.

As a result, while Muslims are allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, Jews are only allowed to visit certain areas and at set times — but never to pray or perform rituals there — in order to avoid provoking tensions. 

Though, for Christians, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount hold significant historical and religious importance — being a site associated with many events in the life of Jesus Christ, according to Christian tradition; Christian pilgrims and tourists are also banned from praying on the site.

In addition, while the status quo agreement initially intended to preserve the Mount’s policy state, it has actually shifted significantly since 1967, with Muslim control enhanced with four new mosques since, while Jewish access and practices have become more restricted, greatly altering the original balance.

In 2022, Jordan submitted a document to the United States demanding further control for the Waqf over non-Muslim visits to the Temple Mount, as well as the right to enforce dress codes for non-Muslims, ban their prayer aids, limit groups of non-Muslims to five, and restrict tour routes for non-Muslims to no more than roughly 160 yards in each direction.

Jordan, as well as Palestinian factions, have long portrayed peaceful Jewish visits to the mount as acts of “storming” the mosque or posing a threat to it, depictions aimed at riling up the Arab world against Israel, while warning such “dangerous provocations” may ignite the Middle East. Meanwhile, radical Palestinians, supported by Iranian leadership, have frequently incited violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque by falsely claiming Israel plans to destroy it, leading to widespread violence against Israelis and Jews, and often prompting Israeli police action to restore order.

During the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which begins again next month, Palestinian leaders have frequently exploited the sensitive time to falsely accuse Israel of desecrating the Temple Mount, leading to spirals of violence, while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — who President Biden is pressuring the Jewish state to work with — has denied any Jewish claims to Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, and praised rioters.

The latest meeting between Biden and Abdullah was their first face-to-face meeting since the October 7 massacre.

Following the brutal attack, President Biden’s meeting with Jordanian, Egyptian and the Palestinian Authority leaders in the Jordanian capital, Amman, was canceled less than 24 hours prior to a planned four-way summit, in what was seen as a humiliating snub shortly after a hospital explosion in Gaza that was proven to be the result of a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

In November, Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders caused an uproar after declaring that Jordan should be considered the true national homeland for the Palestinian people, given that it has a majority Palestinian population and integrating Palestinians into Jordan could lead to a more stable regional situation.

Demographically, Jordan has a significant Palestinian population, with a majority of Jordanians ethnically Palestinian. Many Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six-Day War in 1967, and they, along with their descendants, have since lived in Jordan. In addition, most are fully naturalized, making Jordan the only Arab country to fully integrate the Palestinian refugees of 1948.

Proponents have argued that since Jordan is predominantly Palestinian, there is no need for an additional Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. However, Jordanian King Abdullah II has until now emphatically rejected such proposals, claiming “Jordan is Jordan.”