Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, has called on the Prime Minister and government ministers to establish a synagogue on the Temple Mount. Speaking during Jerusalem Day events near the site, he said the time has come for Jewish prayer to be formally established there.

Referring to the Al-Aqsa mosque behind him, Rabbi Eliyahu described it as a structure built during the Jewish exile and asserted that the First and Second Temples once stood at the location, adding that a Third Temple would one day be built there. Until then, he argued, a synagogue should be constructed on parts of the mount permitted under Jewish law.

He cited the position of his late father, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who ruled that a synagogue could be established in areas where Jewish entry is allowed. Concluding his appeal, Rabbi Eliyahu urged Israel’s political leadership to act, saying, 'A synagogue on the Temple Mount - the time has come.'