Far-right Israeli minister plans to visit Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir plans to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem this week, according to Israeli media.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said Ben-Gvir’s office had notified the police of the minister’s plans to visit the flashpoint site on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The outlet, however, cited a source as saying that Ben-Gvir may postpone his visit to the site.

If confirmed, the tour will be the first by the far-right minister to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government last week.

Palestinian group Hamas, for its part, held Israel responsible for any consequences from Ben-Gvir’s planned visit to the flashpoint complex.

“Any escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque will explode the situation and the occupation government will be responsible for this,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement.

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 had also caused a wave of escalation in the occupied city after setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

In November last year, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio that "the whole world is worried" about Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it had been the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

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.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar