Ben-Gvir’s visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa ‘danger to Israel’s security’: MKs

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Members of Israel’s Knesset (parliament) on Tuesday decried a visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem as a "provocation” and a “danger to Israel's security."

Early on Tuesday, the far-right minister entered the flashpoint site, a day after announcing he postponed the visit amid warnings of unrest.

“Today, Ben-Gvir proved what we said throughout the debates on amending the police ordinance. What interests him is not national security, but power and control for the sake of provocations, attention and recruiting the police for his political needs,” Labor MK Naama Lazimi said in a tweet.

“I can't believe that this pyromaniac is the minister of national security,” she added.

Arab MK Ahmad Tibi considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Al-Aqsa complex “a miserable scene of a mouse sneaking in like a thief in the night,” according to the Israeli Army Radio.

“This is a mosque for Muslims, the opinion of the Arab public on the subject will never change,” he added.

Israeli MK Gilad Kariv said Ben-Gvir’s public statements “created a situation where refraining from going up to the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa complex] was interpreted as surrendering to Hamas. This is how he pushed [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the security establishment into a corner.”

“Right now, it seems that Ben-Gvir is dictating the national agenda and Netanyahu is being dragged along. This is a danger to Israel's security,” he warned.

MK Michal Shir, from ‘There is a Future’ Party, also condemned the far-right minister’s visit to the Al-Aqsa complex.

“Ben-Gvir is not biased and this embarrassing behavior illustrates exactly how weak Bibi (Netanyahu) is within his own government,” she said.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area as the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

The far-right politician also caused a wave of escalation in the occupied city after setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Last November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio clip that "the whole world is worried" about Ben-Gvir's extremist views.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report