Jerusalem: a far-right Israeli minister on the esplanade of the Mosques

May 22, 2023

A far-right Israeli minister visited the Esplanade of the Mosques, Temple Mount for Jews, in East Jerusalem occupied and annexed by Israel on Sunday morning, a visit denounced by the United States, the Palestinians and the Jordan, guardian of Muslim holy sites in the city.

This visit by the sulphurous Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben Gvir comes a few days after “Jerusalem Day” marking the “reunification” of the city after the conquest of East Jerusalem by Israel in 1967.

No incident enamelled the visit of Mr. Ben Gvir who was escorted by police, said the spokesman for the Jerusalem police.

“Threats from Hamas will not deter us, I have been 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 Mr. Ben Gvir’s previous visit in January to the site, the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.

Leader of the far-right Jewish Force party, Ben Gvir was charged more than 50 times as a youth with inciting violence or hate speech, and convicted in 2007 of supporting a terrorist group and inciting racism .

“To attack the Al-Aqsa mosque is to play with fire”, reacted the office of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after the visit of the Israeli minister on the esplanade of the Mosques, called by the Moslems Noble sanctuary or simply Al -Aqsa and home to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“This will drag the region into a religious war with unimaginable consequences that will affect everyone,” Abbas’ 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 herds of settlers”. This decision “confirms the extent of the danger that threatens Al-Aqsa, under this fascist Zionist government and the arrogance of its far-right ministers”, wrote the Islamist movement on Telegram.

The US government is “concerned about the provocative visit” by 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 Al-Aqsa Mosque at specific times without praying there, a rule less and less followed by some Jewish nationalists.

The place is administered by Jordan but its access is controlled by the Israeli security forces.

“The Israeli Minister of National Security’s invasion of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the violation of its sanctity is a provocative measure” and “a dangerous and unacceptable escalation”, said the spokesperson for the Jordanian ministry. Foreign Affairs in a statement.

Jordan’s Islamic Affairs Waqf Council called Ben-Gvir’s visit a “flagrant storming and desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

In this tense environment, the weekly meeting of the Israeli cabinet was held on Sunday at midday in an exceptional way in the tunnels along the Western Wall, the holiest site of prayer for Jews.

“Jerusalem is ours, united forever!” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Facebook, along with photos from the underground meeting.

“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 ready to give in to these pressures”, he argued, but “we acted differently”, according to a statement from his office.

The government, resulting from the elections last November, is one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, with in its ranks members of the extreme right who do not hide their racist positions with regard to the Palestinians.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has already claimed almost 200 lives since January 1, including 35 during a new five-day war between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip, from May 9 to 13. .