Almost immediately upon Israel’s capture of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, Israel’s Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan renounced Israeli control over the area, save for the Western Wall. Dayan said that the authority over the area should remain the Islamic Wakf. Whether this was a wise move is very much water under the bridge. Wise or not, the Wakf remains in charge.
Therefore, when Israeli worshippers at the Western Wall were pelted with stones from atop the Temple Mount, it was up to the Wakf that to put a stop to it. It didn’t. That is when Israeli police intervened. Whether one characterizes the police move as aggressive or controlled, as provocative or sensitive, the overlooked fact is that Israel’s police should not have needed to go in at all. It was, and is, up to the Wakf to maintain the peace on the Temple Mount. Israel went into because the Wakf failed to do so.
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