A string of international condemnations quickly followed far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound on Tuesday morning, which marked his first visit to the contested Jerusalem holy site since he assumed office last week.
Ben-Gvir’s visit came after statements he made on wanting to change the longstanding religious status quo on the Temple Mount to allow Jews to pray there. On the eve of the election, he stated that he would demand that Netanyahu introduce “equal rights for Jews” on the mountain.
He made his request to ascent the mount on Monday leading to threats from Hamas that this would lead to an explosion. According to the Israeli police, the visit was conducted in coordination with the Israeli political echelons.
The spokesperson of the U.S. embassy to Israel said that “Ambassador Nides has been very clear in conversations with the Israeli government on the issue of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites. Actions that prevent that are unacceptable.”
The French Embassy in Israel also issued a statement warning against “any action aimed at questioning the status quo of the holy sites.”
The Arab world too was up in arms about the visit.
Jordan, which is the custodian of the holy site, condemned the visit in the “severest” terms, saying that Ben-Gvir’s “storming” of the compound not only violates the status quo at the site, but also requires “international intervention.”
The United Arab Emirates issued a statement condemning the visit which called the visit an “attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.” Netanyahu recently stated that he was invited by the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, to visit the country.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, described Ben-Gvir’s visit as a “break-in” under the auspices of Israeli forces.
Saudi Arabia also condemned the ’provocative actions’ of a senior Israeli official who ’attacked’ the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex," its foreign ministry said in a statement.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which represents 57 Muslim countries “strongly condemned the incursion by the extremist Israeli minister Ben-Gvir into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound with the protection of the Israeli Defense Forces against Muslims.”
Spokesperson to Mahmoud Abbas, Nabill Abu Rudeineh, called the visit “a provocative step against the Palestinian people.” He called on the American administration to take responsibility and force Israel to stop the escalation and aggression at the Al-Aqsa Mosque before it is too late.
According to Rudeineh, "the Al-Aqsa invasions turned from being settler break-ins to Israeli government invasions.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said the “crime of the fascist Zionist Ben-Gvir in breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque is a continuation of the Zionist occupation’s aggression against our sanctity and our Arab identity.”
“The Palestinian people will continue to defend the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and to fight to cleanse it from the impurities of the occupation, and this battle will not stop until the final victory of our nation in expelling the occupier from all our lands,” he added.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesperson Tariq Selmi also told Al Jazeera that “the resistance is fully prepared and vigilant. It is conducting a continuous assessment of everything that is going on, with its hand is on the trigger of action. The bullets of our fighters in Jenin and Nablus will inevitably reach Jerusalem."
