JERUSALEM, Israel – Jews in Israel and around the world commemorated a day of mourning Thursday known as Tisha B’ Av (the 9th day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar) – a date when some of the worst tragedies ever to befall the Jewish people occurred, including the fall of the First Temple, the fall of the Second Temple, the Roman sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and other events.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other Knesset members were among more than 1,700 Israelis to visit the Temple Mount Thursday morning. The controversial minister issued a message of unity in a time of deep division in Israel over judicial reform, saying, “On this day, at this place, it is important to always remember – we are all brothers. Right, left, religious, secular. We are all the same nation. And when a terrorist looks out the window, he doesn’t differentiate between us. Unity is important, love is important. This place, this place is most important to the people of Israel, we need to return and show our governance.”

Hundreds of police, along with reinforcements, guarded the area around the world’s most contentious piece of property, also holy to Muslims and Christians.

A small group of 100 Christian Zionists also ascended to the Temple Mount, accompanied by Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Glick. 

Israel National News reported 16 arrests from intermittent scuffles between police and Arabs in the area.

Meanwhile, on the traditional day of fasting for the Jewish tragedies, secular Israelis fasted over the Knesset’s passage of the first judicial reform law, which went into effect Thursday as the current Knesset session ended.

Galilee Minister Yithak Wasserlauf was another coalition member to went to the Temple Mount. He noted, “Now, on Tisha B’ Av, we are at the Temple Mount, the holiest place for the Jewish people. All of the Jews throughout two thousand years of exile prayed and begged to reach this place, to ascend the Temple Mount. With G-d’s help, we will merit to build the Holy Temple.”

The Tisha B’ Av commemoration ends at sundown on Thursday.

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