– Ben Gvir Leads Over 1,000 Israeli Settlers In Jewish Prayer At Flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque:
https://archive.is/B9vEO
Israel’s hardline and very controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has stirred Palestinian and international outrage once again, this time by by leading prayers marking a Jewish holiday inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, accompanied by over 1,000 Israeli settlers.
Israeli authorities have long had a ban on non-Muslims conducting religious events or displaying religious symbols inside the compound, even though they are permitted to visit the mosque, which is Islam’s third holiest site behind Mecca and Medina.
But Ben Gvir’s entry happened under the protection of Israeli police. At the same time, local media showed Muslim worshippers being blocked from seeking to access the mosque while the Jewish settler groups were present. Past events like this led to outbreaks of severe clashes between Palestinians and police, and violence between the Israeli and Muslim groups.
A Muslim official who oversees the Al-Aqsa compound told AFP: “Minister Ben Gvir, instead of maintaining the status quo at the mosque is supervising the Judaization operation and trying to change the situation inside Al-Aqsa mosque.”
This happened on the Jewish mourning day of Tisha Be’Av which commemorates the destruction of the ancient temple. The whole area is often referred to as Temple Mount, given it is where the ancient second Jewish Temple stood. The Western Wall is sacred to the Jews, while Al-Aqsa Mosque was erected above it under the fifth Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik in the 7th-8th centuries A.D.
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