Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, May 11, 2025

Israel far-right minister enters Al-Aqsa in ‘ unprecedented provocation’

Palestinians have condemned a visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by a far-right Israeli minister as an "unprecedented provocation".
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has entered the compound in occupied East Jerusalem, in a move that threatens a backlash from Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir was seen at the site on Tuesday under heavy security.

“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement published by his spokesman, after the Palestinian group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip warned that such a move would cross a “red line”.

Ben-Gvir has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site, which is viewed by Palestinians as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel taking complete control over the compound. Leading rabbis forbid Jews from praying on the site.

Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter after his visit that the site “is open to all and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, they should understand that times have changed”.

Ofir Gendelman, who has long served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic-language spokesman, released a video saying that the “situation is completely calm” at the holy site following Ben-Gvir’s departure.

The visit appears to have been calculated to avoid a direct confrontation with Palestinians, having come early in the morning, and a day after Ben-Gvir had appeared to backtrack from his plans, thereby avoiding a gathering of Palestinians at the site.

However, the Palestinian foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as an unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict”.

Israel’s opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid had warned on Monday that Ben-Gvir’s planned entrance to the compound would lead to violence, and called it a “deliberate provocation that will put lives in danger”.

Ben-Gvir was sworn in last week as part of a new far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

At the compound, Islam’s third holiest site after Makkah and Madinah, only Muslim worship is allowed under the status quo. The Israeli far right has been attempting to change this and allow Jewish prayer at the site, despite opposition from many ultra-Orthodox Jews and prohibition from leading rabbis.

Palestinians fear that this may lead to a change to the status quo of the site, as far-right Israelis have been calling for a Jewish temple to be built there in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli media had reported that Netanyahu had been negotiating with Ben-Gvir after it emerged that he was planning to enter the site, in an effort to get him to call off his plans.

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s entrance to the site in 2000 sparked the second Palestinian Intifada or uprising.

Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said Ben-Gvir spent a short amount of time in the compound “in the early hours of this morning”.

“That’s no surprise because of the provocation that it would cause especially amongst the Palestinians and the Muslim world,” Khairat said.

“[Ben-Gvir] also has sweeping powers over the police, [so it] came as no surprise that this decision [to enter the Al Aqsa compound] would happen very quickly.

“We’re going to expect a lot of tension from the Palestinians. Already, security has been stepped up amongst the Israelis.”

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera that Ben-Gvir’s move “is a continuation of the Zionist occupation’s aggression against our sanctities and its war on its Arab identity.

“Al-Aqsa Mosque was and will remain Palestinian, Arab and Islamic property, and no fascist force or person can change this fact,” he said.

Ben-Gvir’s stated intention of entering the site earlier this week drew threats from Hamas.

“Any escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque will explode the situation and the occupation government will be responsible for this,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement published on Monday.

Analyst Nasser al-Hidmi, told Al Jazeera from Jerusalem that he believes “this raid was a publicity stunt” to demonstrate “the occupation’s sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa mosque and that the new government does not bend to threats by the Palestinian armed resistance movements.

“There was an agreement between [Ben-Gvir] and Netanyahu – a discussion – that the raid would take place in this manner in order to both demonstrate sovereignty while also avoiding provoking the Palestinian people in Jerusalem,” al-Hidmi said.

“[The raid] happened at a time when there were few Palestinians inside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound and the visit lasted 13 minutes. All of this is an expression of Ben-Gvir’s fears.”

Ben-Gvir holds far-right views toward the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which has led to confrontations with Palestinians in the past.

Israeli forces stormed the compound in May 2021, leading to conflict with Palestinians which led to Israel attacking Gaza later the same month.

Ben-Gvir also caused a wave of escalation in occupied East Jerusalem after setting up an office in February in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, where Palestinians face mass expulsion.

A settler in Kiryat Araba, one of the most right-wing settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank, which is not recognised under international law, Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing a “terror” organisation’s propaganda material and supporting a “terror” organisation – Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach group, which he joined when he was 16.

Ben-Gvir was also notorious for displaying on his wall a picture of Baruch Goldstein, the American Israeli who massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994.

Last November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio that “the whole world is worried” about Ben-Gvir’s views.

Al-Hidmi said that in the coming year, “more extremism and more violations against the Palestinian people and their holy sites” can be expected.

“Hamas and the armed groups in Gaza are not interested in going into another confrontation with the occupation, but they are interested in mobilising the West Bank. It is clear that the West Bank is responsive to this direction, which is worrying the occupation.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesperson Tariq Selmi 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,” Selmi said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said. There was no immediate comment on the incident from the Israeli army.

“Israeli forces turned up in Bethlehem to make an arrest at a refugee camp. In the process, there were a lot of confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis and as a result, a teenager was shot in the chest and killed,” Khairat said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Warren Buffett to Step Down as Berkshire CEO After Nearly 60 Years
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Pope Francis Laid to Rest in Rome as World Leaders Attend Funeral
Not Child’s Play: How Competitive Gaming Became a Global Economic Empire
California Surpasses Japan to Become the World’s Fourth-Largest Economy
Former U.S. Congressman George Santos sentenced to eighty-seven months for wide-ranging fraud
Israel Considers Limited Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Facilities Amid Diplomatic Efforts
Saudi Arabia Offers Max Verstappen Unprecedented Deal to Join Aston Martin
Global Pistachio Shortage Amid Rising Demand for 'Dubai Chocolate'
IMF Predicts No Global Recession Amid Trade Tensions
Worldwide Markets Decline as U.S.-China Trade Frictions Intensify
OpenAI Lands Unprecedented $40 Billion Investment
Removing the Political Adversary is Dismantling What's Remaining of Turkey's Economy.
Ex-FIFA President and French Football Icon Acquitted of Corruption Allegations
White House Investigates Security Breach After Journalist Accidentally Added to Secret Yemen Strike Chat
Volunteers in Jeddah Ensure No One Goes Hungry During Ramadan Iftar
New Restaurant Opens in Makkah's Iconic Clock Tower for Ramadan Iftar
Saudi Arabia's Project Masam Removes 552 Houthi Mines in Yemen
Saudi Arabia Fines Over 400 Foreign Trucks for Regulatory Violations
Saudi National Campaign for Charitable Work Reports Significant Donations in Ramadan
Historic Al-Hosn Al-Asfal Mosque Restored in Asir as Part of National Heritage Initiative
KSrelief Expands Humanitarian Efforts in Syria, Sudan, and Lebanon
Saudi Arabia Advocates for Global Water Cooperation at Forum
Madinah Governor Tours Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah
Saudi Foreign Minister in Cairo to Lead Meeting on Gaza Developments
Recognition of Saudi and Pakistani Entrepreneurs at Riyadh Ceremony
UAE Announces $1.4 Trillion Investment Plan in the United States
Saudi Arabia Innovates in Soil Quality and Water Conservation
Governor of Taif Engages with Rose and Aromatic Plants Cooperative
Saudi Food and Drug Authority Enhances Preparations for Hajj Season
Saudi Arabia Distributes Aid to Yemen and Romania
Restoration of Historic Al-Qalaah Mosque in Riyadh Underlines Heritage Preservation Efforts
Saudi Arabia Arrests Over 25,000 for Immigration Violations in One Week
UAE’s ADQ and Energy Capital Partners Announce $25 Billion Energy Venture in the U.S.
KSrelief Launches Extensive Ramadan Food Aid Initiative
Ramadan Celebrations Revitalize Historic Jeddah
Makkah Authorities Urge Worshippers to Follow Crowd Management Guidelines
Direct Flights Between Dammam and Damascus Reestablished for Syrian Residents
Saudi Main Index Rises to Close at 11,760 Amid Mixed Market Performance
Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch Visits Prophet's Mosque in Madinah
Cultural Development Fund Hosts Third Annual Storytellers Event in Riyadh
×