Israel Police, IDF fallen soldier's family clash on Temple Mount

While the parents of a fallen soldier, Reserve Senior Warrant Officer Israel Socol, were visiting the Temple Mount to mourn their son with family members on Monday, police confronted the family, leading to the detainment of several family friends.

The Socol family visited the Temple Mount directly after sitting shivah in order to mark the seventh day since the fall of Reserve Senior Warrant Officer Israel Socol in Khan Yunis, where 21 soldiers fell when a building collapsed on them in an attack by Hamas. Israel Socol was 24 years old and from Karnei Shomron.

The police permitted the family a special and highly attended ascent with about fifty relatives and supporters. The procession circled counterclockwise, which is the custom of mourners, while a crowd waiting comforted them on the mountain, according to the Temple Mount administration. 

Despite arranging with the police that they would take the “mourners route” in their ascension, the group was taken through the “traditional route.” Additionally, the police barred entry to a member of Beyadenu for a reason that remains unclear, according to the NGO Beyadenu, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the Temple Mount and its heritage in Jewish Communities worldwide. The organization helps facilitate access to the Temple Mount. 

While the family was on the Temple Mount, the police demanded that the group hurry through and not stop to eulogize their fallen relative. Once the family exited the compound, the police detained close friends of the family, claiming that they performed the priestly blessing. 

The Temple Mount commander pushed the father of the family and his brother after they protested the detainment of their friends, as seen in a video published by Beyadenu. 

The family memorializes their fallen son

This memorial ascent is an ancient custom rooted in the Mishnah, according to which mourners should ascend to the Temple Mount to receive condolences from the public with the phrase “May he who dwells in this house comfort you.”

While on the Temple Mount, the sergeant’s father, Yehoshua Socol, memorialized his son, quoting the last conversation they had, in which his son asked to study the laws of eating in a non-Jewish home. 

Marina Socol, the sergeant’s mother, said, “I sacrificed my son in this war, which is a war for the Temple Mount. I believe that we need to sacrifice offerings here on the Temple Mount, and because we do not sacrifice our obligatory offerings on the Temple Mount, we sacrifice to God our best sons. The very best. Look at the fallen. Each one is the very best because we cannot sacrifice to God something of lesser value, something that is not good. Therefore, we go there with the very best. I expect that we, with Israel, as we already pray here, will also take action and sacrifice offerings to Hashem here."

Some of the visitors concluded their visit by reciting Kaddish, and soldiers returning from the front received the  "HaGomel" blessing, usually recited when a person was in life-threatening danger and saved themselves. 

Since the beginning of the year, the Temple Mount administration has recorded that 18,000 individuals vistors to the Temple Mount. Over ten thousand of them visited the Temple Mount since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza. 

Throughout this period, the Temple Mount has been peaceful, free from incitement by provocateurs.