A far-right Israeli minister visited the Mosques compound Sunday morning in Israeli-occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in occupied East Jerusalem, a visit denounced by the United States, Palestinians and Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in the city.
This visit by the sulphurous Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben Gvir comes a few days after the "Jerusalem Day" marking the "reunification" of the city after the conquest of East Jerusalem by Israel in 1967. There were no incidents surrounding the visit of Itamar Ben Gvir, who was escorted by police officers, the Jerusalem police spokesman said.
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Hamas' threats will not deter us, I went to the Temple Mount. Jerusalem is our soul," the minister wrote on his Telegram account, accompanying the text with a photograph of his visit. Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, had denounced Itamar Ben Gvir's previous visit in January to the site, Islam's third holiest site and Judaism's holiest site.
Incitement to violence
Leader of the far-right Jewish Force party, Itamar Ben Gvir was indicted more than 50 times in his youth for inciting violence or hate speech, and convicted in 2007 of supporting a terrorist group and inciting racism. "Attacking the Al-Aqsa Mosque is playing with fire," the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reacted after the Israeli minister's visit to the esplanade of the Mosques, called by Muslims Noble Sanctuary or simply Al-Aqsa and housing the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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This will drag the region into a religious war with unimaginable consequences that will affect everyone," Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Roudeina, said in a statement quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Hamas also denounced the visit, warning that Israel would "bear responsibility for the barbaric incursions of its ministers and its herds of settlers." The move "confirms the extent of the danger threatening Al-Aqsa under this fascist Zionist government and the arrogance of its far-right ministers," the Islamist movement wrote on Telegram.
'Provocative' visit
The U.S. government is "concerned about the provocative visit" of the minister, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. "This sacred space should not be used for political purposes and we call on all parties to respect its sanctity," he added. Under a status quo decreed after Israel's conquest of East Jerusalem in 1967, non-Muslims can go to the mosque compound at specific times without praying, a rule less and less followed by some nationalist Jews.
The site is administered by Jordan but access is controlled by Israeli security forces. "The irruption of the Israeli national security minister into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the violation of its sanctity is a provocative measure" and "a dangerous and unacceptable escalation," the Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. Jordan's Waqf Council for Islamic Affairs called Ben-Gvir's visit a "blatant storming and desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
"Jerusalem is ours"
In this tense context, the weekly meeting of the Israeli cabinet was held Sunday at midday in exceptional fashion in the tunnels along the Western Wall, the holiest prayer site for Jews. "Jerusalem is ours, united forever!" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Facebook, accompanied by photos of the underground meeting.
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Time and time again, my friends and I have been forced to fend off international pressure from those who would divide Jerusalem again," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. Some Israeli leaders "were willing to give in to that pressure," he said, but "we acted differently," according to a statement from his office.
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The government, which emerged from last November's elections, is one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, with far-right members in its ranks who do not hide their racist positions towards the Palestinians. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has already claimed nearly 200 lives since 1 January, including 35 in a new five-day war between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip from 9 to 13 May.
