Settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque have intensified, accompanied by Talmudic rituals that researchers say are being used to assert sovereignty over the site, reinforced by growing numbers and repeated entries into the mosque compound.
Since Sunday morning, settlers have performed prayers, chants and dances inside Al-Aqsa, the site of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey, peace and blessings be upon him. They also carried out what is known as the “epic prostration” and brought plant offerings into the compound.
The Jerusalem Governorate said the scenes reflected an ongoing escalation in the performance of Talmudic rituals inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, alongside attempts to alter its established historical and legal status and turn the site into a centre for Jewish religious life and celebrations.
The Jewish holiday season during the Hebrew month of Tishrei, most notably Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and finally Simchat Torah, runs from 11 September to 3 October 2026. During this period, religious rituals have become a central element in the struggle over the identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s Old City, with researchers describing their use as a political tool to entrench Israeli sovereignty.
What Is the ‘Epic Prostration’?
The so-called “epic prostration”, known as Berakhot, is among the rituals performed by settlers inside Al-Aqsa.
Although it is not restricted to a particular occasion, it assumes greater significance during Jewish holidays because of the large numbers participating, the collective nature of the ritual and the public spectacle surrounding it.
The act involves full bodily prostration, with the body stretched flat against the ground, including the hands, feet and face, representing an extreme form of submission.
Under Jewish religious law, according to the Book of Leviticus, prostration directly on stone is prohibited because stone was used in the making of idols. During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jewish worshippers therefore place a cloth barrier on the ground before prostrating.
Jerusalem affairs researcher Ziad Ibhais previously told Al Jazeera Net that, within the religious interpretation adopted by these groups, prostration on the stones of Al-Aqsa is considered permissible because the site is regarded as an “existing Temple” and the “dwelling place of God”.
For this reason, the practice is distinguished from other forms of prostration by being described as the “epic prostration”.
The ritual is also connected to older forms of Jewish worship that include the priestly blessing, raising the menorah and presenting animal offerings, including the slaughter of lambs.
When these practices cannot be carried out, symbolic substitutes may be used, such as sprinkling red-coloured liquid to represent blood or raising symbolic sheep. Some groups also perform complete Talmudic rituals collectively and aloud.
However, the form of mass collective prostration carried out by settlers on Sunday has no basis in the Torah, according to academic Abdullah Ma’ruf, director of the Jerusalem Studies Centre at Istanbul’s 29 May University.
Ma’ruf said that, according to the Biblical narrative, the original practice of this form of prostration was restricted to the alleged Temple on Yom Kippur and was performed only by the “High Priest” and a small group at a specific time.
He wrote on X that Temple organisations nevertheless insist on performing the ritual collectively during every incursion into Al-Aqsa.
According to Ma’ruf, the purpose is to entrench their treatment of Al-Aqsa “as though it has already become the alleged Temple” and to use the ritual as a tool for changing the mosque’s identity and Judaising it.
A Tool for Changing Al-Aqsa’s Identity
Ma’ruf said Temple organisations, working alongside the Israeli occupation government, seek to turn the eastern courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque into a synagogue as a starting point for imposing a spatial division of the compound.
“For this reason, they seek to have exclusive control over it and impose all their rituals there, while the occupation police prevent worshippers and Al-Aqsa guards from entering it throughout the duration of the incursions,” he said.
According to Ibhais, Zionism seeks to employ Biblical rituals as a colonial instrument for changing the identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He said the objective is to transform Al-Aqsa into a shared holy site for Jews and Muslims as a preliminary step towards denying its Islamic identity and eventually transforming the entire compound into a Temple.
Ibhais identified three tracks through which this is pursued: spatial division, temporal division and the symbolic and ideological establishment of the Temple.
The settlers’ rituals have not been limited to one practice or one form of offering. Alongside singing, collective prayers and the so-called epic prostration, settlers have also brought plant offerings into Al-Aqsa during Sukkot.
Palm Fronds as a Plant Offering
According to Ma’ruf, the “plant offering” reflects the character of Sukkot as a harvest festival.
The Torah prescribes the use of four plant species during the festival: the citron, a citrus fruit resembling a lemon, palm fronds, myrtle and willow. These are bound together as part of the ritual plant offering.
In September 2021, settlers succeeded in secretly bringing palm-frond offerings into Al-Aqsa Mosque. The practice is now being carried out openly.
Dried palm fronds are also used in constructing the booths beneath which Jews eat during Sukkot.
Ma’ruf described the introduction of such offerings into Al-Aqsa as another example of religious rituals being deployed for colonial purposes in an attempt to impose a Jewish identity on the mosque.
Contemporary Jewish religious belief among Temple groups regards the Temple as the place where the divine presence dwells. On that basis, Ma’ruf said, presenting plant offerings at Al-Aqsa functions as a symbolic and ritual precursor to establishing the alleged Temple in its place.
He warned of renewed attempts by settlers to impose these offerings openly inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, with incursions continuing during the seven-day Sukkot period.
Temple organisations announced yesterday, according to a statement by the Jerusalem Governorate, that Israeli police had not prevented participants from bringing the plant species into Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This came despite an official police announcement stating that the plants were prohibited and that they would be confiscated, with anyone attempting to bring them into the compound detained.
Political and Security Backing
The settlers’ celebrations, plant offerings and Talmudic rituals during this year’s Jewish holidays have coincided with involvement by senior Israeli political and security officials.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, visited the area below the Buraq Wall, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered Al-Aqsa Mosque.
During his entry into the compound this morning, Ben-Gvir said: “We are the owners of the place at Al-Aqsa. We pray there, and it is the most important place for the Jewish people.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also participated in the “priestly blessing” ritual at the Buraq Wall, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.
The Governorate said 1,792 settlers entered Al-Aqsa Mosque during the morning and evening periods yesterday, the third day of Sukkot.
