Itamar Ben-Gvir plans visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir plans to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem this week, according to the Israeli media.
Israeli public broadcaster KAN said Ben-Gvir’s office had notified the police of the minister’s plans to visit the flashpoint site on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The outlet, however, cited a source as saying that Ben-Gvir may postpone his visit to the site which is held deeply sacred by Muslims the world over.
If confirmed, the tour will be the first by the far-right minister to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government last week.
Palestinian group Hamas held Israel responsible for any consequences from Ben-Gvir’s planned visit to the sacred Islamic precincts.
“Any escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque will explode the situation and the occupation government will be responsible for this,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement.
Ben-Gvir is a committed Zionist who holds far-right views resented deeply by the Palestinians. He has in the past called for the forcible displacement of the Palestinian nation to make the way for the unlimited expansion of illegal Jewish settlements.
Ben-Gvir has also several times in the past joined Israeli settlers in storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Occupied East Jerusalem.
The far-right politician had also caused a wave of escalation in the occupied city after setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah Muslim neighborhood.
In November last year, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned, according to a leaked audio, that “the whole world is worried” about Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.
The Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam- the site of the Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him’s Ascension to the Heavens and the First Qiblah (praying direction) in Islam. On the other hand, Jews refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it had been the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It illegally annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move that was never recognized by the international community.
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