At a meeting of his security Cabinet on July 24, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convinced his ministers to support the removal of the metal detectors that had just been installed at the Temple Mount compound entrance. Once that was done, he immediately set to work minimizing the damage the decision had done to his image.
It was Netanyahu who first pushed to install the metal detectors within hours of the deadly July 14 attack on the Temple Mount that left two policemen dead. The move was ostensibly intended to increase security at the contentious site, but it was also a way of declaring Israeli sovereignty over all parts of Jerusalem. He made the decision despite warnings from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet that it would lead to a fresh eruption of violence.