UTJ-affiliated newspaper says party must reconsider its place in government after Ben Gvir’s latest Temple Mount visit

An influential newspaper aligned with the United Torah Judaism political party calls for the Haredi party to reconsider its place in government following National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s contentious visit to the Temple Mount yesterday.

A front-page item in the Yated Ne’eman daily edition blasts the ultranationalist minister for “endangering Jewish lives” by visiting Temple Mount on the solemn Jewish fast day of Tisha B’av and insisting that Jewish prayer was permitted at the site, in direct contradiction to the status quo upheld by the Israeli government.

“Jews going up to the Temple Mount is like throwing a match into an oil well,” reads the newspaper’s editorial. “The Temple Mount may turn into a volcano that covers the entire Middle East with ash.”

מתקפה מחר של עיתון יתד נאמן החרדי ליטאי נגד בן גביר והעולים להר הבית: "העלייה להר היא כמו השלכת גפרור לבאר נפט. הר הבית עלול להפוך להר געש שיכסה בעשנו את כל המזרח התיכון. אי אפשר לתת לכל דמות קיקיונית לסכן את כולנו. חובה לסגור את ההר, לנעול ולאטום. לאף אחד אין זכות לספסר בדמנו" pic.twitter.com/CQtjD95v9Y

— יואלי ברים yoeli brim (@yoeli_brim) August 13, 2024

Like UTJ and Shas, the newspaper follows the Haredi school of thought that states Jews may no longer ascend Temple Mount — the site of the two destroyed Temples — as its holiness precludes setting foot there nowadays.

The editorial calls for UTJ to examine whether it can continue serving as partners in a governing coalition that includes Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party, saying he cannot be allowed to continue “endangering us all.”