Ben Gvir scorns PM’s objections as Jews seen praying on Temple Mount: ‘It’s my policy’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount remains prohibited, repeating that it was his policy to allow the practice and eliciting outrage from Arab leaders as well as members of his own coalition.

The uproar began as Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning to mark the solemn Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av, which mourns the destruction of the Temples that once stood in Judaism’s holiest site. Some of the Jewish visitors were filmed praying and prostrating themselves, in violation of police instructions.

The vague status quo governing the compound, the holiest site in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam, allows Muslims to pray and enter with few restrictions, while non-Muslims, including Jews, can visit only during limited time slots via a single gate. Visibly religious Jews are only allowed to walk on a predetermined route, closely accompanied by police.

Palestinians often claim Israel wishes to assert greater control over the Mount, and the issue is seen as a particularly sensitive one, with explosive potential for the region. Violations of the status quo are viewed by Israeli security officials as having the potential to set off mass unrest. The Temple Mount has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, and tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence.

While Jews are not officially allowed to pray, police have increasingly tolerated limited, quiet prayer in recent years.

But Tuesday’s prayers were far more explicit, with numerous men flattening themselves on the ground, and loud calls of “Shema Yisrael” heard in videos from the scene.

Ben Gvir, who was joined at the site by fellow Otzma Yehudit minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, filmed a video at the scene, saying over background calls of “Shema”: “There is great progress here on [matters of Israeli] sovereignty and rule, images of Jews praying here as I’ve said. Our policy is to allow prayer.”

It was the third time the police minister has made such a claim while visiting the Mount, with the Prime Minister’s Office being repeatedly forced to issue denials that this was Israel’s policy.

But police did not appear to take any action to stop the prayers in the videos on Tuesday.

אנחנו עדים בימים אלה לקריסה הממשית של המשטרה, השלב שבו מפקדים בכירים בארגון חוששים לקיים את החוק כדי להתחנף לבן גביר. בית ליד למשל. אין מעצרים ולא היו כי פחדו מבן גביר.
ועכשיו הר הבית. יש עליות המוניות ובניגוד לחוק ולסטטוס קוו, מתפללים ומשתחווים וכו'. בן גביר הרי אישר להם. רק… pic.twitter.com/FFqg2QgbAc

— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) August 13, 2024

Ben Gvir also said, with the Dome of the Rock in the background, that “we must win this war [against Hamas]” and “bring them to their knees.”

Religious journalist Arnon Segal was ebullient, writing on X, “The Temple Mount is ours. A historic and dramatic day: Prostrations, loud singing and prayer in the presence of ministers… A dream come true.”

The Prime Minister’s Office once again rebuffed the top minister’s claim, saying, “Policy at the Temple Mount is directly subject to the government and the prime minister. There is no private policy by a specific minister at the Temple Mount — neither by the national security minister nor by any other minister.”

The PMO went further this time, in light of the clear footage of prayers taking place, saying, “The incident this morning at the Temple Mount is a deviation from the status quo. Israel’s policy at the Temple Mount hasn’t changed.”

But Ben Gvir brushed off the reprimand, doubling down on his assertion.

“The national security minister’s policy is to enable freedom of worship for Jews in all places, including the Temple Mount, and Jews will continue to do so in the future as well,” he said in a defiant statement.

“The Temple Mount is a sovereign area in the State of Israel’s capital,” Ben Gvir added. “There is no law that permits engaging in racist discrimination against Jews at the Temple Mount or anywhere else in Israel.”

In reaction to the incident, police did at one point delay the continued entry of observant Jews, who were initially allowed to enter in groups of 100. After the visits were renewed, security forces cut the groups down to 50 each.

מסר חשוב מהר הבית, בתשעה באב: pic.twitter.com/9GYa5CZHHw

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 13, 2024

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, quoting the Jordanian Waqf, said some 2,000 Jews had entered the site on Tuesday, with the number expected to rise throughout the day.

Muslim and Jewish anger

Criticism of Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount poured in from all directions, including from Arab and Western leaders, members of the opposition and even ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who are Ben Gvir’s partners in the coalition (Haredim are opposed to Jewish visits to the site, believing its holiness precludes setting foot there nowadays).

MK Moshe Gafni, head of the Degel HaTorah faction of the United Torah Judaism party, charged that Ben Gvir doesn’t care about the “harm to the Temple Mount’s sanctity and the status quo,” alleging he was causing immense damage to the Jewish nation and causing unnecessary hate on Tisha B’Av.

He said that his faction would have to “check with our rabbis whether we can be partners with him, and will clarify this to the prime minister as well.”

Gafni has repeatedly threatened to bolt the coalition over several issues, but has not followed through.

Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) reiterated the Chief Rabbinate’s stance against Jewish visits to the site due to its holiness, adding that it also constituted “unnecessary provocation to nations around the world.”

He quoted the fathers of religious Zionism, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, as saying that Jewish sovereignty in Israel must not be achieved via means that go against the Torah.

“Ben Gvir’s electioneering at the Temple Mount, which completely goes against the stance of security officials, during a war, is endangering the lives of Israeli citizens and the lives of our soldiers and police officers,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid argued in a post on X.

“This bunch of irresponsible extremists in the government is trying to drag Israel to an all-out regional war,” he added. “These people can’t run a country.”

Ra’am MK Waleed Alhawashla wrote on X, “Red lines were crossed today at Al-Aqsa with mass provocations by extremists. Ben Gvir and his supporters yearn for more war and more fatalities, yearning for conflagration.”

Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi called Ben Gvir a “pyromaniac” who has decided to go ahead with “any provocation to bring about a regional war,” and placed the blame on Netanyahu for letting him “go wild for the sake of his political survival.”

Beyond the issue of prayers, Palestinian and Arab leaders view the uptick in Jewish visits as a violation of the status quo in and of itself.

Jordan issued a strident statement condemning the far-right ministers’ visit to the Temple Mount, which it said “reflects the insistence of the Israeli government and its extremist members to disregard international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”

Amman urged the international community to “firmly” condemn the visit, alleging that the site is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims and is under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Waqf, and asserting that Israel has no sovereignty over the “occupied city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.”

The Palestinian Authority also condemned Israel for allowing the worshipers to visit the site, calling it a “dangerous provocation.”

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said Ramallah holds Israel “responsible for these practices” and called on the United States to “intervene immediately to stop these provocations against our holy religious sites.”

Egypt said it “condemns the storming of the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by two Israeli ministers, members of the Israel Knesset, hundreds of Israeli settlers and extremists, and the raising of the Israeli flag, under the protection of the Israeli police.

It also called on the international community to “play an active role in confronting these violations that stir up emotions and thwart efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”