Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, visited the Noble Sanctuary, also known as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews, on Thursday. The visit drew criticism from the Palestinian Authority and Israel’s neighbours.
Ben-Gvir said on the website that was briefly known as Twitter, “This morning I ascended to the Temple Mount, our temple that was demolished because of gratuitous hatred. Since becoming a minister at the end of last year, far-right minister Ben-Gvir has made three trips to the location where the al-Aqsa mosque is located. Many prior clashes between Israelis and Palestinians began as tension at the sacred place.
Jews observe Tisha B’Av, a day of sorrow, on Thursday to remember the tragedies that have befallen them, particularly the demolition of the two ancient temples that once stood on the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.
The Palestinian Authority and the Jordanian government, which has been in charge of Jerusalem’s sacred sites since 1924 and sees itself as the protector of the city’s Muslims and Christians’ religious freedoms, both denounced his visit. The governments of Egypt and Turkey both denounced the trip.
Ben-Gvir’s travel, according to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, “represents a provocative and blatant breach of international law and the historical and legal status of Jerusalem and its sacred sites.” The Palestinian Authority described the visit as a step towards “imposing forcible changes on its historical and legal reality, as an integral part of the process of judaizing Jerusalem.”
Ben Gvir set the recent political unrest in Israel in the context of his visit in a statement issued by his party, Jewish Power.
We must always keep in mind that, on this day and in this location, we are all brothers, Ben-Gvir remarked. “Right, left, spiritual, nonreligious. We are one and the same. A terrorist does not distinguish between us or separate us when he peers through the glass. Unity and support for Israel are crucial.
The most crucial location for the Israeli people is here, where we must return and demonstrate our ability to rule.
Protests over the government’s proposed judicial reforms have rocked Israel for 29 weeks in a row. A bill passed this week prohibiting the court from overturning government judgements due to “unreasonability” will be challenged, the Israeli Supreme Court announced on Wednesday, and hearings will take place in September.
The contentious legislation was approved by a vote of 64-0, with all members of the governing coalition voting in favour. All opposition MPs left the room during the vote.
One of Israel’s most contentious politicians, Ben-Gvir, has been found guilty of anti-Arab racism in the past and has stated that he thinks the current situation at Israel’s holy sites has to be rectified.
Only Muslims are permitted to pray inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, according to the so-called Status Quo agreement that dates back to the Ottoman occupation of Jerusalem; non-Muslims are only permitted to enter during specific hours. After Israel conquered them in the 1967 war, other states and Israel came to an agreement to keep Muslim pilgrims’ access to these sacred sites open.
Jewish prayer access to the Temple Mount has been advocated by some religiously nationalist Jewish organisations. There have been multiple incidents of Jewish tourists praying in the contested region, which has angered Muslim officials and resulted in Israeli police forcibly removing them.