Go to by Israel’s Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir comes days after 1000’s of Jewish nationalists marched by means of Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis.

Israel’s far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem and declared Israel “in cost”, drawing condemnation from Palestinians after months of escalating rigidity and violence.

The feedback throughout his early morning go to on Sunday to the compound got here days after teams of Jewish youths scuffled with Palestinians and chanted racist slogans in the course of the annual far-right “flag march” by means of the Previous Metropolis.

The occasion, held on “Jerusalem Day”, which marks the 1967 seize and annexation of East Jerusalem, a transfer thought of unlawful underneath worldwide regulation, has led to violence lately, as far-right Israelis shout provocative slogans and insults, in addition to bodily assault Palestinians and even journalists.

“I’m comfortable to ascend the Temple Mount, an important place for the folks of Israel,” Ben-Gvir mentioned throughout his go to to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also called Al-Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and the Temple Mount by Jews.

In 2021, tensions round Al-Aqsa had been adopted by an 11-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which controls the Strip, has warned repeatedly that it might react to what it sees as Jewish incursions on the location, which stands in Jordanian custodianship underneath a long-standing “establishment” association put in place to comprise tensions.

“All of the threats from Hamas won’t assist, we’re in cost right here in Jerusalem and the entire land of Israel,” mentioned Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly visited the compound.

Beneath the established order preparations, non-Muslims might go to the location within the coronary heart of the Previous Metropolis however usually are not allowed to wish. Nonetheless, Jewish guests have been more and more defying the ban, roughly overtly.

Rising anger

Palestinians contemplate defiance of the ban on prayer as a provocation and concern that Israel intends to take over the location.

The elevated variety of ultranationalist Jews getting into the compound, and the frequent storming of the location by Israeli safety forces, together with contained in the prayer corridor of Al-Aqsa Mosque, has elevated Palestinian anger.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas mentioned Ben-Gvir’s “incursion at an early hour, like thieves, into the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards won’t change the fact and won’t impose Israeli sovereignty over it”.

A Hamas spokesman mentioned Israel would bear the results for Ben-Gvir’s “savage assault” on the mosque and it known as on Palestinians to step up their visits and “stand as a rampart within the face of all makes an attempt to defile it and make it Jewish.”

Israel captured the Previous Metropolis of Jerusalem, which incorporates Al-Aqsa and the adjoining Western Wall, a sacred place of prayer for Jews, in the course of the 1967 Center Jap struggle.

Israel has since annexed East Jerusalem, in a transfer not recognised by the worldwide neighborhood, and regards all the metropolis as its everlasting and undivided capital. Palestinians need East Jerusalem because the capital of a future state.

In a press release on Sunday, the US mentioned it was involved by Ben-Gvir’s “provocative go to and accompanying inflammatory rhetoric”. It reaffirmed US assist for the established order at Jerusalem’s holy websites.

“This holy area shouldn’t be used for political functions, and we name on all events to respect its sanctity,” State Division Spokesperson Matthew Miller mentioned within the assertion.