Extremist Israel Cabinet minister visits sensitive Jerusalem holy site amid Palestinian tensions

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to Temple Mount comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capturing of east Jerusalem in 1967

The hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism and houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Palestinians consider as a national symbol and view such visits as provocative

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The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City on April 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:50pm, 21 May 2023

An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians.

The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israel’s most right-leaning government ever, was likely to draw condemnations from the Palestinians and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

“I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement following the visit. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it “proves who is in charge in Jerusalem”.

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir during a memorial ceremony marking Israel’s Memorial Day on April 25, 2023. Photo: Reuters

The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine.

The hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there.

Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site.

Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there.

Jordan decried Ben-Gvir’s actions as a “provocative step” and a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation”.