More than 10,000 Israeli Jews gathered at the foot of Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Monday night to remind their own government and the international community that the biblical holy site belongs to them.

Israel National News reports that those gathered recited a "pledge of allegiance " to a Jewish Temple Mount where one day a temple to the God of Israel will again stand.

Speakers at the event decried the fact that today pretty much everyone except Jews are allowed to ascend the Temple Mount freely. Muslim authorities currently control the Temple Mount, and foreign non-Jewish visitors are allowed to ascend the plateau with little or no trouble. But Jewish visitors are regularly turned away by police if there is any fear of a violent Muslim reaction to their presence.

Jews and Christians both are forbidden to pray atop the Temple Mount or to carry Bibles into the compound. Numerous times, Muslim authorities at the site have chased down and driven off Jews and Christians spotted saying silent prayers.