JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday there was no change in policy at a sacred Jerusalem site, after a far-right cabinet minister said Jews could now pray there, remarks that another minister said could set the region ablaze.
“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement from Washington, a few hours before he was due to address the US Congress.
Earlier on Wednesday, the pro-settler right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told parliament: “I am the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at Temple Mount.”
The compound, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, houses Islam’s third-holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa mosque, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a vestige of two ancient temples.
Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit but refrain from prayer. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, responding to Ben-Gvir on X, said: “There’s a pyromaniac sitting in the Israeli government and trying to ignite the Middle East.”
Since bringing Ben-Gvir into government in 2022, Netanyahu has overruled many of his ideas. Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns that triggered the war in Gaza, Ben-Gvir has been excluded from Netanyahu’s decision-making war cabinet.
Gallant said he objected to giving Ben-Gvir a seat. Ben-Gvir, in response, said Gallant was pushing for an irresponsible deal that would end the Gaza war without vanquishing Hamas.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are mediating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would include a hostage release.
Over the past few months, Ben-Gvir has voiced objection to a ceasefire, called for Israel to permanently occupy and settle the Palestinian enclave and has issued threats to bring down Netanyahu’s government if it ends the war.
Netanyahu says no change at Al-Aqsa after Ben-Gvir’s remarks
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Netanyahu says no change at Al-Aqsa after Ben-Gvir’s remarks
- “Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” Netanyahu’s office said
- Earlier on Wednesday Ben-Gvir told parliament: “I am the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at Temple Mount”
Palestine, Egypt officials discuss Gaza safety, security
- Talks also on strategies for stability in Israeli-ravaged Occupied Territories
LONDON: Hussein Al-Sheikh, deputy president of the Palestinian Authority, discussed security and diplomatic issues during separate meetings in Cairo with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati and Hassan Rashad, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service.
Al-Sheikh briefed Egyptian officials on the latest developments regarding the Occupied Territories, in the presence of Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service.
The discussion on Sunday also focused on strategies for achieving stability and security for the Palestinian people, and progressing to the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, as reported by the Wafa news agency.
Officials aim to improve coordination and consultation to tackle the challenges facing the Israeli-ravaged Palestine and the wider region.
Al-Sheikh might become Palestine’s president in the event of a power vacuum in the Palestinian Authority, currently led by 90-year-old Mahmoud Abbas.
