Holly Johnston
The National / January 3, 2023
National Security Minister at compound under heavy security.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was pictured at Al- Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday, raising tensions with Palestinians days after an ultra-right-wing government was sworn in.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned his visit as “an unprecedented provocation”.
Mr Ben-Gvir was surrounded by a heavy security presence after Palestinian warnings that his visit to the contested site would cause “an explosion”, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported.
“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Mr Ben-Gvir said after the Palestinian militant group warned the visit would be a “red line”.
He said the site was “the most important place for the people of Israel”.
“We maintain the freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews will also go up to the mount, and those who make threats must be dealt with — with an iron hand,” he said.
The minister, who was sworn into office on Thursday, often visited the compound as a member of parliament and has called for Jewish worship there, currently banned under a status-quo agreement with Jordan. He was previously banned from the Knesset for inciting racism and is a staunch opponent of Palestinian statehood.
The compound is the third holiest site in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism, as the place of two former temples. It is the focal point of Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Israeli incursions at the site led to the Second Intifada and recent wars in Gaza.
Mr Ben-Gvir’s visit was approved by police and city officials after a security assessment with the minister on Monday, according to Kan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not warn the minister against visiting the compound, his Likud party has said, despite concern from both Israeli and foreign officials that it could fuel violence.
‘People will die’
Mr Ben-Gvir “must not go” to the site, opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid said on Twitter on Monday.
“This is a provocation that will lead to violence and cost human lives,” he said, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stand up and tell him [Mr Ben-Gvir]” because “people will die”.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has warned that Amman is prepared for conflict should Israel try to change the status of the contested holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem — a “red line” for the kingdom.
Israeli incursions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound often end in violence in the West Bank and Gaza.
In 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site, sparking riots which spiralled into the five-year Second Intifada, which led to the deaths of more than 4,000 people.
In April, Arab League leaders said Israel has “no right” to allow Jewish worship at Al-Aqsa, saying only Jordanian authorities can decide if non-Muslims can enter the site.
“Ben-Gvir has made a career out of provoking confrontations and violence with Palestinians in his hometown area of Hebron [Al-Khalil] and Kiryat Arba, and also in Sheikh Jarrah and East Jerusalem,” Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel-Palestine analyst with Crisis Group International, told The National.
With unprecedented expanded powers after new legislation was passed, the National Security Minister now has direct control of border police and can command control of police policy and investigations.
“Even more tensions and even more provocations” are likely to be seen in areas with a large Palestinian presence, including Al Aqsa, said Ms Zonszein.
Holly Johnston – breaking news reporter
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Extreme-right Israeli minister visits al-Aqsa Mosque compound
AFP / January 3, 2023
Move by Itamar Ben-Gvir angers Palestinians after Hamas warned such a step would ‘lead to an explosion’.
The extreme-right Israeli firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir has visited Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the first time since becoming a minister, his spokesperson has said, angering Palestinians who see the move as a provocation.
“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement, after the Palestinian militant group warned such a move was a “red line”.
Ben-Gvir’s visit on Tuesday came days after he took office as national security minister, a position that gives him powers over the police.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest place in Islam and the most sacred site to Jews, who refer to the compound as the Temple Mount.
“The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel, and we maintain the freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews will also go up to the mount, and those who make threats must be dealt with – with an iron hand,” Ben-Gvir said.
Lying within Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the compound is administered by the Waqf Islamic affairs council, with Israeli forces operating there and controlling access. Ben-Gvir has lobbied to overhaul management of the site to allow Jewish prayer there, a move opposed by mainstream rabbinical authorities.
Waqf guards told AFP that Ben-Gvir was accompanied by units of the Israeli security forces while a drone hovered above the holy site. After he left the compound on Tuesday morning, visitors arrived at the plaza and the situation remained quiet.
Ben-Gvir has visited Al-Aqsa numerous times since entering parliament in April 2021, but his presence there as a senior minister carries far greater weight. A controversial visit in 2000 by the then opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, was one of the main triggers for the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which lasted until 2005.
The Palestinian Foreign ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit as an “unprecedented provocation and a serious threat to the arena of conflict”.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, last week warned such a step would be “a big red line and it will lead to an explosion”.
Following Ben-Gvir’s visit, the Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem deemed it a “crime” and vowed the site “will remain Palestinian, Arab, Islamic”.
Hamas rules the Gaza Strip and in May 2021 an 11-day war broke out in the territory between Palestinian militants and Israel, after violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israeli police officers were wounded in the preceding clashes across East Jerusalem, initially sparked by restrictions on Palestinians gathering and possible evictions of residents.
During this period, Ben-Gvir rallied his supporters at Jewish settler homes in East Jerusalem, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 June War.
For years seen as a fringe figure, the Jewish Power leader entered mainstream politics with the backing of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Ben-Gvir has advocated for Arab-Israelis deemed disloyal to the state to be expelled and for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Until a few years ago he had a portrait in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron/Al-Khalil in 1994. He launched his ministerial career on 29 December as part of Israel’s most rightwing government in history, led by Netanyahu.
