The Prime Minister’s Office condemned National Security Minister Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount on the morning of Tisha B’Av, after the MK said it was the right of Jewish people to pray on the site, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
Ben-Gvir was accompanied by Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Likud MK Amit Halevi, and the head of the Temple Mount Administration, Rabbi Shimshon Elboim, according to KAN. Around 1,500 Jews ascended to the site on Tuesday morning, Ynet reported.
Several Israelis who visited the site were detained by police after waving Israeli flags, kneeling or lying on the ground and singing Hatikvah – the Israeli national anthem – which is prohibited on the Temple Mount, KAN added. Jews are not allowed to pray on the site.
However, documentation show dozens praying and bowing in the compound, all witnessed by Ben-Gvir who, as MK for National Security, is responsible for the enforcement of the law, according to the sources.
عاجل | مستوطنون يؤدون ما يسمى بـ “السجود الملحمي” خلال اقتحام المسجد الأقصى المبارك. pic.twitter.com/4uIHJR3BpN
— فلسطين أون لايـن (@F24online) August 13, 2024
Ynet cited Ben-Gvir as saying “We are here on Tisha B’Av, at the Temple Mount, to commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple.. As I said – our policy is to allow prayer.” He added that he went to the site to pray for “the return of the hostages, the peace of the soldiers, and victory in the war.”
Minister Ben-Gvir made statements last month saying, “I am the political echelon and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.”
In response, the Prime Minister’s Office said that “Israel’s policy to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”
“Policymaking on the Temple Mount is directly subordinated to the government and the Prime Minister. There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount – neither of the Minister of National Security nor of any other minister.”
The Office of Ben-Gvir responded to the PMO, saying “The policy of the Security Ministry is to allow freedom of worship for Jews, including at the Temple Mount, which is sovereign territory in the capital of the State of Israel.”
Disagreements over praying on the site
The footage of the praying has led some people to criticize the lack of enforcement of the ‘no-pray’ police, according to Maariv.
The spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas said, “We call on the American government to intervene against the provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned “the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by two extremist Israeli government ministers under the protection of the Israeli occupation police.” The ministry referred to the praying as a “flagrant violation of international law and the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites.”
Yair Lapid expressed disapproval, saying on X “Ben-Gvir’s campaign on the Temple Mount, in complete opposition to the position of the security forces, during a war, endangers the lives of Israeli citizens and the lives of our soldiers and policemen.
“The group of irresponsible extremists in the government is trying hard to drag Israel into an all-out regional war. These people cannot run the country.”
Religion Services Minister Michael Malkieli said “for generations, the leaders and chief rabbis of Israel have stressed the importance of the ban on going to the Temple Mount. In addition to having broken the ban, these actions serve as an unnecessary provocation in the eyes of the world.”
MK Moshe Gafni added that “the damage [Ben-Gvir] is causing to the Jewish people is too great to bear. He is causing gratuitous hatred on the day of the destruction of the Temple.”
The Hostage Families Forum released a statement saying that Ben-Gvir has “repeatedly thwarted a deal to return the hostages, and endangers them with his actions and words.”
Eve Young and Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.
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