IDF and police forces raided the Hazon David Synagogue compound in Kiryat Arba Sunday and declared it a “delimited zone.”

In the past, the High Court ruled that the synagogue is located on private Arab land. However, the congregants rebuilt the synagogue time and time again, each time it was torn down.

Nationalist activists claimed Sunday that the IDF’s Hevron Regiment Commander has threatened that his forces would occupy the building as the IDF did at the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar. In the last few days, IDF and Border Police forces have been blocking access to the synagogue during prayer hours.

The congregants at Hazon David vowed to keep on frequenting the synagogue. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, one of them accused, “is purposely creating tension in an area that has been quiet, and just wants to make the situation on the ground more volatile. They destroyed this synagogue, they razed it time after time, but we will not break and we will not give in; the military’s behavior will only cause more discontent on the ground.”

A female congregant said: “Until today, Jews were only forbidden from praying on the Temple Mount. Now they are also forbidden from praying in the synagogue at Kiryat Arba-Hevron, Hazon David, which is named after two murdered people who gave their lives for the nation of Israel. It is shameful that this is the goal that the Israel Police and the IDF invest so much energy in, and forbid Jews from praying here.”