Netanyahu says no change at Al-Aqsa after Ben-Gvir's remarks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that there was no change in policy at a sacred site in Jerusalem, after a far-right cabinet minister said Al-Aqsa Mosque should be open 24/7 for Jews to pray there, Reuters has reported. Another minister said that such remarks could set the region ablaze.

“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Mosque] has not changed and will not change,” said Netanyahu’s office in a statement from Washington, a few hours before he was due to address the US Congress.

Earlier on Wednesday, the pro-settler, right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told parliament: “I am the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at Temple Mount.”

The compound in Jerusalem’s Israeli-occupied Old City, houses Islam’s third-holiest sanctuary, Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a vestige of two ancient temples.

Under a delicate, decades-old “status quo” arrangement with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which has official custodianship over the sanctuary, and local Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit the site but not to pray there. The sanctuary is at the heart of the Palestinian grievances against the occupation state, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past.

“There’s a pyromaniac sitting in the Israeli government and trying to ignite the Middle East,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on X in response to Ben-Gvir.

Since bringing Ben-Gvir into his government coalition in 2022, Netanyahu has overruled many of his ideas. Since last October and the start of the latest Israeli military offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, Ben-Gvir has been excluded from Netanyahu’s decision-making war cabinet.

Gallant objected to giving Ben-Gvir a seat. In response, the national security minister said that Gallant was pushing for an irresponsible deal that would end the Gaza war without vanquishing Hamas.

The US, Qatar and Egypt are mediating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would include a hostage exchange deal. Over the past few months, Ben-Gvir has voiced objection to a ceasefire, called for Israel to permanently occupy and settle the Palestinian enclave and issued threats to bring down Netanyahu’s government if it ends the war.

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