Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday and said he prayed there, challenging rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.
Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement after Ben-Gvir’s visit that Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo at the compound “has not changed and will not change”.
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Videos released by a small Jewish organisation called the Temple Mount Administration showed Ben-Gvir leading a group walking in the compound. Other videos circulating online appeared to show him praying. Reuters could not immediately verify the content of the other videos.
The visit to the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount, took place on Tisha B’av, the fast day mourning the destruction of two ancient Jewish temples, which stood at the site centuries ago.
The Waqf, the foundation that administers the complex on a hillside in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, said Ben-Gvir was among another 1,250 who ascended the site and who it said prayed, shouted and danced.
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Israel’s official position accepts the rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the compound, which is Islam’s third holiest site and the most sacred site in Judaism.
Ben-Gvir has visited the site in the past calling for Jewish prayer to be allowed there.
Ben-Gvir said in a statement he prayed for Israel’s victory over Palestinian militant group Hamas in the war in Gaza and for the return of Israeli hostages being held by militants there. He repeated his call for Israel to conquer the entire enclave.
Suggestions that Israel would alter rules at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked outrage in the Muslim world and ignited violence in the past. There were no immediate reports of violence on Sunday.
A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit, which he said “crossed all red lines.”
“The international community, specifically the US administration, is required to intervene immediately to put an end to the crimes of the settlers and the provocations of the extreme right-wing government in Al-Aqsa mosque, stop the war on the Gaza Strip and bring in humanitarian aid,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
