Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Tuesday (13) that Jews should be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The request is seen as a new challenge to rules in one of the Middle East’s most sensitive locations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to the rules banning Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
He also issued a rebuke to Ben-Gvir, head of one of the religious nationalist parties in the ruling coalition.
“There is no particular policy of any minister regarding the Temple Mount — neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
This was the second time Netanyahu has clashed with one of his ministers, following a sharp rebuke he issued to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the aims of the Gaza war.
Ben-Gvir’s comments come at an especially sensitive time with the war in Gaza at risk of escalating into a wider conflict that could draw in Iran and its regional proxies.
The Al-Aqsa compound, revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples, is run by a Jordanian religious foundation and, under rules dating back decades, Jews are allowed to visit it but cannot pray there.
“Our policy is to allow prayer,” Ben-Gvir said as he walked past a line of Jewish visitors prostrating themselves on the ground, while others sang and clapped in celebration. The Waqf, the foundation that runs the site, said about 2,250 Jews entered the site on Tuesday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman denounced Ben-Gvir’s visit as a “provocation” and called on the United States to intervene “if we want to prevent the region from exploding uncontrollably.”
The US State Department said Washington was firmly committed to the status quo of the arrangements at Jerusalem’s holy sites and that any unilateral action would be unacceptable.
Ben-Gvir has repeatedly clashed with other ministers over his calls to allow prayer at the compound, which has helped spark repeated conflicts with Palestinians over the years, including a 10-day war with Hamas in 2021.
Moshe Gafni, head of United Torah Judaism, one of the governing religious parties, criticized Ben-Gvir’s visit to the compound, which many Orthodox Jews believe is too holy a place for Jews to enter.
“The harm this causes to the Jewish people is unbearable, and it also causes unfounded hatred on the day of the destruction of the Temple,” he said in a statement.
Source: CNN Brasil
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