The UN and the US have led a chorus of international criticism of a visit by Israel’s new right-wing National Security Minister to Jerusalem’s supersensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The move on Tuesday by Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir angered Palestinians and US allies in the Arab world, while Western governments warned such moves threatened the fragile status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites.
“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Mr Ben-Gvir said after the Palestinian militant group warned such a step was a “red line”.
Late on Tuesday, militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza fired a rocket towards Israel but it fell short and hit the ground inside the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army said.
Mr Ben-Gvir’s visit comes days after he took office as National Security Minister with powers over the police, giving his decision to enter the highly sensitive site considerable weight.
Al-Aqsa mosque is the third-holiest place in Islam and the most sacred site to Jews, who refer to the compound as the Temple Mount. Under a longstanding status quo, non-Muslims can visit the site at specific times but are not allowed to pray there.
In recent years a growing number of Jews, most of them Israeli nationalists, have covertly prayed at the compound, a development decried by Palestinians.
Read the article by Rosie Scammell in The Australian.