Israeli Minister of National Security Ben Gvir said Wednesday that Jews were allowed to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, a position that breaks from the decades-long status quo at the compound, known as Temple Mount to the Israelis.
Under the status quo, non-Muslims can visit al-Aqsa but cannot pray. “I was at the Temple Mount last week. I prayed at the Temple Mount and we are praying at the Temple Mount. I am in the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount,” Ben Gvir said at a Knesset conference encouraging a change to the status quo at al-Aqsa.
Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, made a provocative visit to al-Aqsa last week and said he was there to pray that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not agree to a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas. Ben Gvir’s declaration on Wednesday marked the second time in recent months that he said Jewish prayer was permitted at the compound.
In both instances, Netanyahu’s office quickly issued statements denying that there’s been a change to the status quo. “Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” the prime minister’s office said on Wednesday.
Ben Gvir’s comments are sure to inflame tensions with the Palestinians as the issue of al-Aqsa Mosque is an extremely sensitive one since it’s the third holiest site in Islam. Israeli police raids on al-Aqsa were a major motivation for Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which was named al-Aqsa Flood.
Ben Gvir’s visits to al-Aqsa and desire to change the status quo are all the more provocative since he holds a powerful ministerial position that puts him in charge of Israel’s police, border guards, and prisoners.
Benny is making himself a leg target…!
That's some crazy shit. From both sides. It's good to be an atheist. I can not pray in any building I choose.
Even atheists have their own sacred idols. If it’s not God, it’s something else.
I don't know what that would be. Comparatively speaking.
No need to compare, your windbreaker could be that sacred idol.
At least it's real.
Turkey is going to jump in to save that holy site. You can’t mess with something like that. I get that it seems highly unlikely that Turkey or any other Muslim state would enter, but Israel is foolish. Someone will jump in eventually.
You can tear down everything sacred in European societies, and Europeans will just beg you to stop calling them Nazis. However, the same won’t work in the MidEast.
You mention "holy site". That's the crazy shit I'm talking about.
Well, it’s not my holy site. Even somewhere like Indonesia could act.
Armenians can’t defend their quarter in the Old City. No one cares about them. Israel may hurt them. But you don’t mess with Muslim holy sites.
Turkey and Iran are the biggest bunch of cowards. Mullahs wack their president and push a “moderate” to turn the page with the new administration. And Turkey has kept their flotillas at bay. The bigger the gun, the harder to pull the trigger.
at least the Islam that runs the Turkish(a Peaceful NATO Member not abutting the North Atlantic) Government is not as despotic as Iran's
That peaceful Turkey has wrecked Libya and funded ISIS to remove Assad not to mention daily massacre of Kurds. For your sake, Erdogan better not place his son in charge after a fake coup when he is gone.
This is precisely how this entire conflict was started – which everyone forgets ten months down the road. Shortly before October 7, senior Zionists in the government met under the al-Agsa Mosque and confirmed their intentions to tear it down and rebuilt the "Third Temple" and sacrifice a frickin' cow.
They knew this would trigger a Hamas response as previous incursions into the Mosque compound had done so in the past. This was their pretext for starting the currently ongoing genocide. This is why I keep saying this entire situation was PLANNED by the Israelis and the US neocons in advance and everything that has happened since is just part of the PLAN – except, of course, where that plan has been derailed by the effective actions of the Axis of Resistance. Nevertheless, that PLAN is still in place.
Alastair Crooke understood this and told everyone repeatedly in his articles and interviews on Judge Nap's Youtube channel. And now everyone has forgotten about it.
You have repeated this absurd claim several times. It's clearly wrong, as Hamas has been waging war against Israel since its creation, and the Oct. 7 attack took years of planning. Jeez, let it go.
A diversion from Gaza. All media is doing it. Sort of like the movie Don't Look UP. Not denial. Ignoring.
From Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/19/gaza-hospitals-surgeons-00167697