Arab nations have condemned far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir after he prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site today, despite a decades-old agreement that bars non-Muslims from worshipping there.
Ben Gvir, who drew condemnation for a similar move in August, visited the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, alongside a number of Jewish men and boys.
In a video recorded at the site, Ben Gvir said that two years after Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza that followed, “we are the owners of the Temple Mount.”
“Here on the Temple Mount, there is victory; in every house in Gaza there is a picture of the Temple Mount, and today, two years on, we are victorious on the Temple Mount,” he said.
Reaction: The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry called Ben Gvir’s actions an attempt to “inflame the region” and to “sabotage” the ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, which negotiators are currently discussing in Egypt.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also condemned Ben Gvir, writing on social media that it “renews its strongest denunciation of the continued assaults on the sanctity of the al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The Jordanian foreign ministry lambasted what it called Ben Gvir’s “raid,” writing that it was a “blatant breach of international law and international humanitarian law, a condemned escalation and an unacceptable provocation.”
More context: The complex in occupied East Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism, where Jews face in prayer. It is also the third holiest site in Islam.
Anyone can visit the site, but only Muslims are allowed to pray there, according to an understanding known as the ‘status quo agreement,’ which has existed since Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.
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