Israeli parliamentarians decry Ben-Gvir’s visit to Al-Aqsa as provocative

JERUSALEM (AA) – Members of Israel’s parliament have decried the visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem as a “provocation” and a “danger to Israel’s security.”

On Tuesday, the far-right minister entered the flashpoint site, a day after announcing he had postponed the visit amid warnings of unrest.

“Today, Ben-Gvir proved what we said throughout the debates on amending the police ordinance. What interests him is not national security, but power and control for the sake of provocations, attention and recruiting the police for his political needs,” Labor MK Naama Lazimi said in a tweet.

“I can’t believe that this pyromaniac is the minister of national security,” she added.

Arab MK Ahmad Tibi considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Al-Aqsa complex “a miserable scene of a mouse sneaking in like a thief in the night,” according to the Israeli Army Radio.

“This is a mosque for Muslims, the opinion of the Arab public on the subject will never change,” he added.

Israeli MK Gilad Kariv said Ben-Gvir’s public statements “created a situation where refraining from going up to the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa complex] was interpreted as surrendering to Hamas. This is how he pushed [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the security establishment into a corner.

“Right now, it seems that Ben-Gvir is dictating the national agenda and Netanyahu is being dragged along. This is a danger to Israel’s security,” he warned.

MK Michal Shir, from ‘There is a Future’ Party, also condemned the far-right minister’s visit to the Al-Aqsa complex.

“. . . this embarrassing behavior illustrates exactly how weak Bibi (Netanyahu) is within his own government,” she said.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest site. Jews call the area as the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Zionist Ben-Gvir has often called for the displacement of Palestinians from their lands. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

The politician caused tensions in the past in the occupied city by setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Last November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned, according to a leaked audio clip, that “the whole world is worried” about Ben-Gvir’s extremist views.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.