A fresh storm has erupted in West Asia after Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, where he offered prayers and called for the annexation of Gaza. The move has drawn sharp rebukes from regional powers including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, who accused Israel of inflaming religious tensions and violating long-standing agreements at one of the holiest and most sensitive sites in the region.
Ben Gvir’s visit coincided with Tisha B’Av, a solemn Jewish day marking the destruction of two ancient temples. The minister, under heavy Israeli military protection, joined a group of Jewish worshippers atop the Temple Mount -- also revered by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif -- in open defiance of an arrangement that has prohibited non-Muslim prayer at the site since 1967.
In a video message from the compound, Ben Gvir didn’t hold back. “It is from here that a message must be sent: to conquer the entire Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of Gaza, eliminate every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary emigration,” he said. “Only in this way will we bring back the hostages and win the war.”
The far-right minister, who has previously visited the site without praying, reportedly offered prayers there for the first time -- a significant departure from the decades-old status quo that limits religious activity at the compound for non-Muslims. The Times of Israel reported that thousands joined him at the site during the Tisha B’Av pilgrimage.
Backlash from the region
Palestinian officials were quick to denounce the visit. Hamas called it “a deepening of the ongoing aggressions against our Palestinian people.” The Palestinian Authority's spokesperson, representing President Mahmoud Abbas, warned that the act had “crossed all red lines.”
“The international community, specifically the US administration, must 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,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Jordan, the custodian of the al-Aqsa site, was equally scathing. Its foreign ministry labelled the visit “a blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, an unacceptable provocation, and a condemned escalation.”
Saudi Arabia also condemned the act, accusing Israel of heightening regional tensions. In a statement on X, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns the repeated provocative practices by officials of the Israeli occupation authorities against al-Aqsa mosque,” adding that such acts “fuel the conflict in the region.”
Mixed signals from Israeli leadership
As regional backlash mounted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a carefully worded response, attempting to downplay the incident. He insisted that “Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”
But not all within the Israeli government echoed that moderation. Defence Minister Israel Katz struck a different tone, vowing to reinforce Jewish sovereignty at the contested site. “Israel’s enemies around the world will continue to make decisions against us and demonstrate, and we will strengthen our hold and sovereignty over Jerusalem, the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount forever and ever,” he posted on X. “On Tisha B’Av, 2,000 years after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount are once again under the sovereignty of the State of Israel.”
The Al-Aqsa flashpoint
The al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, sits atop a hill in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City. It is the third holiest site in Islam, believed to be where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven during the Miraj. For Jews, it is the holiest location on earth, the site of the two ancient temples, the last of which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, an informal arrangement was established: Jordan would oversee the site’s religious administration, Israel would manage external security, and non-Muslim visitors would be allowed only during set hours without engaging in prayer. Despite this, Israeli authorities have gradually relaxed enforcement, and Jewish visits have increased, often accompanied by police.
For Palestinians, such visits, especially by senior officials, are seen as provocations and warnings of an Israeli attempt to assert control over the compound. In recent years, tensions at the site have repeatedly boiled over into violence. In 2023, Israeli police clashed with Palestinian worshippers, injuring at least 14 people.
Who is Ben Gvir?
Itamar Ben Gvir has long courted controversy. A vocal advocate for Jewish settlements and a critic of Palestinian rights, he has been convicted eight times for charges including racism and support for a terrorist organisation. Just last week, the Netherlands declared him persona non grata for inciting violence and advocating ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
He has also been sanctioned by several countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
This is not the first time Ben Gvir has sparked tensions at the al-Aqsa compound. In an August 2023 interview, he said he would build a synagogue at the site if given the choice. “If I could do anything I wanted, I would put an Israeli flag on the site,” he said. When pressed multiple times by the journalist about building a synagogue at al-Aqsa, Ben Gvir finally responded: “Yes.”
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