Bennett says stirring up Sheikh Jarrah for political gain unhelpful

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accuses a far-right MK of stirring up tensions for political gain after he tried to set up shop in the flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

On Sunday, Religious Zionism MK Itamar Ben-Gvir set up a makeshift office there — a table under an awning — following the firebombing of a Jewish home in the tense neighborhood over the weekend.

“We don’t need provocations from people on either side inflaming tensions for political interests,” Bennett says from the airport before he takes off for Bahrain.

He says the firebombing of a house is “unacceptable,” and that police reinforcements are being dispatched to the neighborhood.

The comments come after Defense Minister Benny Gantz tweeted that police and other security agencies were taking “severe measures against any terror incident, including the burning of a home in Sheikh Jarrah.”

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, defends Ben-Gvir, who fainted while being was removed by police, and says he condemns “violence” against the lawmaker.

This is not Sheikh Jarrah, it’s Jerusalem our capital,” he tells his Likud faction.