From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 5, 2024
Lapid: Region will go up in flames if Ben Gvir in charge of Temple Mount during Ramadan
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
If National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is allowed to run things on the Temple Mount and East Jerusalem then the area will “go up in flames” during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warns during his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“I consider it my duty to warn the government. The country is not ready for this. There is no preparation. There is no plan. There were no operational and political discussions at an adequate level. We are headed for disaster. For another disaster,” he says.
“This is what he wants, but it is not what the State of Israel needs,” Lapid says of Ben Gvir, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restrict Ben Gvir’s authority and to appoint a team to oversee Israel’s preparations for the volatile period.
“We didn’t need the interview in the Wall Street Journal to remind us that Ben Gvir is a dangerous clown who prefers to light fires instead of putting them out, but during Ramadan this could cause an all-out conflagration that would cost human lives,” he continues.
“I say to the government: you have been warned.”
On Sunday, the US newspaper published an interview with the far-right minister in which he harshly criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, accusing it of benefitting Hamas and arguing that Israel would have been better off with a second Trump administration.
“Instead of giving us his full backing, [US President Joe] Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel, which goes to Hamas,” Ben Gvir declared. “If Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different.”
