The Movement for the Establishment of the Temple has called on its members not to back Jerusalem mayoral candidate Meir Porush, citing a recent interview in which the Knesset member (United Torah Judaism) said he was in favor of upholding Arab authority over the Temple Mount.

In a message sent to thousands of its supporters via email, the movement quoted Porush as telling Israel Radio that Israel must uphold a decision reached following the Six Day War according to which "the Arabs are the owners of the Temple Mount, the Jews pray at the Western Wall and both sides respect each other's authority."

During the interview Porush mentioned the Halachic decree issued by Israel's chief rabbis in 1967, which prohibited Jews from entering the Temple Mount area.

The Movement for the Establishment of the Temple has claimed that the Arab control over the Temple Mount has resulted in the systematic and illegal destruction of the Second Temple's remnants and cruel treatment of Jewish worshippers.

"Can we support a mayoral candidate who is at peace with Arab sovereignty over the Temple Mount?" the movement said in its magazine, which is distributed to thousands of its supporters. "Can we put our trust in a man who will rule according to rabbinical decrees and will ignore the rights of a large Jewish public that sacrifices itself in order to build the Land of Israel and the Temple?"