A planned settler incursion into Masjid al-Aqsa on Friday 15 May 2026 is now being treated as a very real and imminent threat, after 22 senior Zionist politicians, including the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of War, signed a petition demanding that Masjid al-Aqsa be opened for settler incursions on Friday.
Israeli Temple organisations published a new version of the petition yesterday, Monday 11 May 2026, addressed to Israeli Police Commissioner Dani Levy and Jerusalem District Police Commander Avshalom Peled, demanding that settlers be allowed to enter Masjid al-Aqsa on Friday 15 May 2026, marking the Hebrew anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem.
The petition was signed by 22 Zionist politicians, 19 of whom belong to Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, representing approximately 60% of the party’s Knesset bloc, alongside three members from the Religious Zionism party. Among the signatories are nine ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Minister of War Israel Katz, as well as ministers responsible for media, health, energy, youth and sport, and others.
The petition repeats the same demands made in an earlier petition signed by 13 politicians and published by Temple organisations on 3 May 2026: that Masjid al-Aqsa be opened on Friday for settler incursions “in a manner expressing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem”. It also proposes an alternative demand that, if Friday access is not approved, Masjid al-Aqsa should instead be opened for an exceptional additional incursion period on the evening of Thursday 14 May 2026.
With the involvement of increasingly senior political figures, and the Likud party now placing its full political weight behind this petition, it has become clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to demonstrate that the decision regarding incursions into Masjid al-Aqsa ultimately lies with him, rather than allowing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir alone to dominate the political spectacle surrounding the ongoing Judaization measures being imposed upon Masjid al-Aqsa.
This escalation also recalls the events surrounding the Eid al-Adha incursions of 11 August 2019, when Netanyahu himself played a direct role in facilitating the incursion through political deception. His silence today regarding the proposed Friday incursion strongly indicates that preparations are once again underway to create the conditions necessary for imposing it.
In light of these developments, the proposed Friday incursion on 15 May must now be treated as a genuine and active danger. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the occupation authorities are moving towards allowing settler incursions into Masjid al-Aqsa on a Friday for the first time since its occupation in 1967.
“And who is more unjust than those who prevent the name of Allah from being mentioned in His Masjids and strive towards their ruin?” – Surah al-Baqarah 2:114
This is not merely a political issue or a distant news story. Masjid al-Aqsa is a sacred trust connected to our faith and our identity. The normalisation of incursions, especially on a Friday, represents a dangerous escalation aimed at changing the reality of Masjid al-Aqsa step by step until the unacceptable becomes accepted.
Silence and inaction in the face of such injustice is what allows these realities to become established.
