Israel denounced Thursday (January 5th) an “
absurd
” and “
pathetic
” meeting of the UN Security Council, which discusses the visit of an Israeli minister to the esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem which caused an international outcry .
"
I am really, really shocked
," said Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, outside the doors of the Security Council.
“
And why?
Because there is absolutely no reason for this emergency session to be held today.
Any.
Holding a Security Council session on a non-event is really absurd
,” the diplomat told the press.
Request from China and the Emirates
Figure of the Israeli far right and new Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir made a trip of less than a quarter of an hour on Tuesday to the esplanade of the Mosques, raising a wave of international condemnations, including States States, the historical ally of Israel.
At the request of China and the United Arab Emirates, the Security Council met Thursday afternoon, the Arab and Muslim countries having demanded concrete action to condemn the Jewish state.
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Mr Erdan denied that the minister's visit was an "
incursion into (the mosque's) Al Aqsa compound
" or a departure from the historic "
status quo
" regarding Jerusalem's holy sites.
“
Every Jew has the right to visit the Temple Mount
”, designation of the site in Judaism, he hammered.
“
To claim that a brief and completely legitimate visit should trigger an emergency session of the Security Council is pathetic
,” Erdan said.
On Wednesday evening, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations Riyad Mansour, surrounded by a number of counterparts from Arab and Muslim countries, had demanded that the international community “
decide to defend and protect the historic status quo in Jerusalem and (concerning its) Muslim sites and Christians
”.
The Jordanian ambassador, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, had judged that the "
incursion
" of the Israeli minister was an "
extremist act likely to create a new cycle of violence
" and summoned "
the Security Council (to) take its responsibilities in seriously
”.
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The third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism known as the “Temple Mount”, the Esplanade of the Mosques is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Palestinian sector occupied and annexed by Israel.
Under a historic status quo, non-Muslims can visit the site at specific times but cannot pray there.
However, in recent years, a growing number of Jews, often nationalists, surreptitiously pray there, a gesture denounced as a “
provocation
” by the Palestinians and several countries in the Middle East.
