An Israeli crowd led by hard-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Jerusalem’s most holy site today in a pilgrimage seen by Muslims as provocative.
His visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque launches a fresh challenge to rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East – with tensions over the compound fuelling violence before.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the visit – which took place on a Jewish holiday- as a ‘provocative intrusion’ that endangered the fragile status quo regarding the Jerusalem compound.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules that prohibit Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and rebuked Ben-Gvir, the national security minister.
‘There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount – neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister,’ Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
His remarks come at an especially sensitive time, with the war in Gaza at risk of escalating into a wider conflict, potentially drawing in Iran and its regional proxies.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday
An Israeli crowd led by hard-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Jerusalem’s most holy site today in a pilgrimage seen by Muslims as provocative (the site pictured on August 13)
Approximately 1600 activist Jews, accompanied by Israeli police, storm the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, visited the site as Jews marked Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the biblical Temples.
It marks a day when a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587 BCE.
The Al-Aqsa compound is revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples and is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation.
But under rules dating back decades, although Jews are allowed to visit, they may not pray there.
‘Our policy is to allow prayer,’ Ben-Gvir said as he passed a line of Jewish visitors at the site earlier today.
In video released by his office, Ben-Gvir was also seen strolling through the compound singing, ‘The people of Israel live!’ while accompanied by dozens of supporters.
One supporter yelled a Jewish prayer, which is not permitted under the longstanding arrangement in place at the site meant to ease regional tensions.
Ben-Gvir has said he is changing the policy and, despite previous assurances to the contrary by Netanyahu, he repeated this stance today.
The security minister added that ‘very large progress’ had been made to allow Jewish prayer at the site.
The Al-Aqsa compound is revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples and is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation
Activist Jewish settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, raid the Old City of East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday
The Al-Aqsa compound is revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples and is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation
Under rules dating back decades, although Jews are allowed to visit, they may not pray there
The Waqf, the foundation that administers the site, said some 2,250 Jews entered the site on Tuesday.
The spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Ben-Gvir’s visit as a ‘provocation’ and called on the United States to intervene ‘if it wants to prevent the region from exploding in an uncontrollable manner’.
Ben-Gvir, head of one of the religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, has clashed repeatedly with other ministers over his calls to allow prayer at the compound.
Moshe Gafni, head of United Torah Judaism, one of the religious parties in the government, criticized Ben-Gvir’s visit to the compound, which many Orthodox Jews believe is too sacred a place for Jews to enter.
‘The damage it causes to the Jewish people is unbearable, and it also causes unfounded hatred on the day of the destruction of the Temple,’ he said in a statement.
The spat between Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir has once again laid bare the divisions that have been a feature of the Israeli Prime Minister’s coalition ever since it came to power at the end of 2022.
On Monday, Netanyahu reprimanded Gallant after the minister was quoted in the Israeli press dismissing as ‘nonsense’ Netanyahu’s often repeated aim of ‘total victory’ in the war with Hamas.
Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of another religious-nationalist party, have clashed repeatedly with Gallant over issues ranging from the conduct of the war in Gaza to policy regarding the occupied West Bank and moves to curb the power of the courts.
So far, however, electoral calculations have kept the coalition together, while Gallant has been determined to remain in government to act as a counterweight to the nationalist religious bloc.
On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir repeated his call for final victory in Gaza, saying the aim of the war should be to defeat Hamas, and ‘bring them to their knees’.
