National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went up to the Temple Mount on Wednesday, drawing ire from local and regional figures alike.
UTJ MK Moshe Gafni (Degel Hatorah) said Ben-Gvir was violating and desecrating sacred ground.
This is “a violation of the sanctity of the holiest place for the Jewish people and of the status quo, which all the great rabbis of Israel and the chief rabbis throughout the generations have opposed regarding Jews ascending the site,” he said.
“Your ascent there involves a severe prohibition carrying the penalty of karet [extirpation] for you and all those accompanying you. It does not demonstrate sovereignty – on the contrary, it constitutes a desecration of the sacred and provokes unnecessary incitement in the Muslim world and beyond.
“I call on you to cease ascending the Temple Mount, the site of our Holy Temple.”
Incitement of Muslim world
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry called Ben-Gvir’s ascent “a dangerous escalation, an unacceptable provocation, a violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a breach of its historical and legal status quo.”
Jordanian diplomat Sufyan Qudah said he saw the trip to pray on the Temple Mount as “a blatant violation of international law and of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power in occupied Jerusalem, and an attempt to impose a temporal and spatial division of the site,” according to a Jordanian Foreign Ministry statement on X/Twitter.
“Ambassador Qudah reiterated that the entire 144-dunam (14.4-hectare) area of the blessed Aqsa Mosque is a place of worship solely for Muslims, and that the Jerusalem Wakf Department and al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs, affiliated with the Jordanian Wakf, Islamic Affairs, and Holy Places Ministry, is the sole legal authority responsible for managing the affairs of al-Haram al-Sharif and regulating entry to it,” the statement read.
Hamas also condemned Ben-Gvir.
“The raid by the fascist minister Ben-Gvir onto the Aqsa Mosque compound this morning constitutes a provocation and a dangerous escalation,” the terror organization wrote.
“This step comes as part of the genocidal war against the Palestinian people and as part of the efforts by the terror government... to Judaize the Aqsa Mosque and impose a new reality in Jerusalem.”
The site had been closed to Jews for 13 days during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. Ben-Gvir was accompanied by the head of the Temple Mount Administration, Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum.