Yehuda Etzion

Yehuda Etzion (; born 1951) is an Israeli religious right-wing activist and the founder of Hai Vekayam, a group dedicated to allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. He was a member of the Jewish Underground and participated in a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock, for which he was arrested and imprisoned in 1984 for acts of terrorism.

Personal life Etzion was born in 1951 in kibbutz Ein Tzurim. His father, Abraham Mintz, was a member of Lehi.

Jewish Underground Following the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty, Etzion began to lose faith in the Israeli government. Etzion has said he was fascinated by the Temple Mount in Jerusalem since childhood and that he became fixated on the need to reclaim it after the Six Day War broke out. "The Temple Mount is the focal point of the land. But it is in the hands of gentiles. As long as the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Omar mosque stand on the Temple Mount, there can be no salvation for Israel."

Current activities Etzion founded Hai Vekayam, a group dedicated to allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount against Israeli Government restrictions and majority rabbinical opinion that Jews' entry to the site is forbidden. He also organizes annual recreations of the paschal sacrifice the day before Passover in the Abu Tor neighborhood of Jerusalem.