Israeli Security Minister Joins Jewish Extremists as they Storm Temple Mount
By The Guardian. Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday.
Escorted by armed police, they prayed, waved the Israeli flag and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power.
Under a fragile, decades-old agreement known as the status quo, non-Muslim prayer is banned at the site, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Ben-Gvir has eroded the agreement in recent years through a series of inflammatory visits to the compound, and unilateral changes to rules for Jewish visitors, including allowing them to bring prayers and printed religious material to the site. . .
In a statement, the Palestinian ministry of religious endowments and affairs said: “These provocative practices, emanating from the highest political levels of the occupying government, seek to ignite a religious war throughout the entire region.” (Read more from “Israeli Security Minister Joins Jewish Extremists as they Storm Temple Mount” HERE)
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
By Reuters. Israeli far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday, praising Jewish visitors he said had prayed at the site in breach of arrangements that allow only Muslim prayer there.
His visit drew condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian officials. . .
Jordan’s foreign ministry and the Palestinian religious affairs ministry both condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit, which they said violated the status-quo agreements.
Jordan said Ben-Gvir’s visit was “a desecration of the sanctity of the mosque, an escalation, a barbaric act, and unacceptable provocation.”
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. Previous such visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted announcements from Netanyahu saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the status quo. (Read more from “Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound” HERE)
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