Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, a place of prayer and pilgrimage sacred to the Jewish people. It is the only remains of the retaining wall surrounding the Temple Mount, the site of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem, held to be uniquely holy by the ancient Jews. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587–586 bce, and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 ce.

The authenticity of the Western Wall has been confirmed by tradition, history, and archaeological research; the wall dates from about the 2nd century bce, though its upper sections were added at a later date. Texts explaining the survival of the wall vary; one suggests that God saved this fragment for the Jewish people, while another holds that Titus left it as a painful reminder of the Roman defeat of Judea.

Because the wall now forms part of a larger wall that surrounds the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jews and Arabs have frequently disputed control of the wall and, often, right of access to it. That conflict has been particularly heated since the Israeli government took full control of the Old City in the wake of the Six-Day War of June 1967.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-Wall

July 23 2026

Arab and Muslim countries condemn Israeli storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque

Story by Al Jazeera Staff

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Israeli settlers at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on July 23 [File: Ilia Yefimovich /AFP]

Eight Arab and Muslim-majority countries have strongly condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem by far-right groups and thousands of Israeli settlers.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates denounced the “mass incursions by settlers led by extremist Israeli ministers into the Noble Sanctuary” of Al-Aqsa.

More than 4,200 Israeli settlers and members of far-right groups stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, one of the largest incursions this year, to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/arab-and-muslim-countries-condemn-israeli-storming-of-al-aqsa-mosque/ar-AA28yjuP