Israel’s Interior Ministry has ordered the deportation of two Turkish nationals arrested on the Temple Mount recently during a violent anti-Trump rally on the holy site protesting the president’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
Tens of thousands of Muslim protesters gathered on the Temple Mount last Friday afternoon to demonstrate against American recognition of Israel’s capital city and the decision to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
According to the Hamas-aligned Falastin newspaper, of the some 45,000 demonstrators, roughly 2,300 were visiting Turkish citizens.
After the rally turned violent, three Turkish nationals were arrested after they reportedly assaulted Israeli police officers on the Mount.
Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu said two of the three hold dual Turkish and Belgian citizenship.
The three were released from police custody on Saturday, but deportation orders were issued for two of them by the Interior Ministry, The New York Times reported on Monday.
One of the three, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said, was slated to be deported later on Monday, while another is slated to be deported on Saturday. The spokeswoman had no information regarding the possible deportation of the third Turkish national.