By James Mackenzie
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli hardliner Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Tuesday Jews should be permitted to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, launching a fresh challenge to rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules that prohibit Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and rebuked Ben-Gvir, the national security minister.
“There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount – neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, which came a day after the premier issued a separate rebuke to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over differences in policy.
The remarks, during a visit to the complex to mark the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the ancient temples, come at an especially sensitive time, with the war in Gaza at risk of escalating into a wider conflict, potentially drawing in Iran and its regional proxies.
The Al-Aqsa compound, revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples, is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and under rules dating back decades, Jews are allowed to visit, but may not pray there.
“Our policy is to allow prayer,” Ben-Gvir said as he passed a line of Jewish visitors who prostrated themselves on the ground, while others sang and clapped their hands in celebration. The Waqf, the foundation that administers the site, said some 2,250 Jews entered the site on Tuesday.
The spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Ben-Gvir’s visit as a “provocation” and called on the United States to intervene “if it wants to prevent the region from exploding in an uncontrollable manner”.
Ben-Gvir, head of one of the religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, has clashed repeatedly with other ministers over his calls to allow prayer at the compound, which has been the trigger for repeated conflicts with the Palestinians over the years.
Moshe Gafni, head of United Torah Judaism, one of the religious parties in the government, criticized Ben-Gvir’s visit to the compound, which many Orthodox Jews believe is too sacred a place for Jews to enter.
“The damage it causes to the Jewish people is unbearable, and it also causes unfounded hatred on the day of the destruction of the Temple,” he said in a statement.
GOVERNMENT DIVISIONS
The spat between the ministers laid bare once more the divisions that have been a feature of Netanyahu’s coalition ever since it came to power at the end of 2022.
On Monday, Netanyahu reprimanded Gallant after the minister was quoted in the Israeli press dismissing as “nonsense” Netanyahu’s often repeated aim of “total victory” in the war with the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, now in its 11th month.
Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of another religious-nationalist party, have clashed repeatedly with Gallant over issues ranging from the conduct of the war in Gaza to policy regarding the occupied West Bank and moves to curb the power of the courts.
So far, however, electoral calculations have kept the coalition together, while Gallant has been determined to remain in government to act as a counterweight to the nationalist religious bloc.
On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir repeated his call for final victory in Gaza, saying the aim of the war should be to defeat Hamas, and “bring them to their knees”.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie)
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