Prominent Knesset member Ram Ben Barak warned that Israel risks igniting a "religious war" after a court ruling regarding Jewish prayers in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the approach of the so-called flags march in occupied Jerusalem.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Israeli Magistrate's Court issued a preliminary ruling allowing settlers to perform their Talmudic prayers with a "loud voice" and perform something like kneeling while storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

But the Israeli government headed by Naftali Bennett was quick to announce its intention to appeal against the ruling, and confirmed in a statement that there is no change in the status quo at the Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it is not planned to do so.

MK Ben Barak, who is the head of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, opposed the ruling and expressed his concern about the planned route of the so-called Flag March (memorial of Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem), which includes the Muslim Quarter in the Old City.

He told Kan radio that he believed that during this sensitive period, caution should be exercised, adding, "We must not ignite a religious war here or any kind of provocation that would ignite the Middle East."

Ben Barak, whose centrist party is in the coalition, expected Bennett to wait until the night before the rally to decide on its final course to prevent a potential conflict.

He added that it "is not always worth paying this price for a demonstration related to the parade and a few other things."

And the Minister of Regional Cooperation in the Israeli government, Issawi Freij, said that the court’s decision violated the current situation in Al-Aqsa Mosque, describing it as “irresponsible and dangerous,” adding that he requested a postponement of the implementation of the decision “to stop setting fires in the area.”

Settlers frequently storm the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Anatolia)

Palestinian warnings

Khaled Al-Batsh, a member of the Islamic Jihad's political bureau in Gaza, warned that moving ahead with the flags' march would be a "message of war" against the Palestinians.

He added that the Palestinians will confront the march of the flags and that the resistance will do everything necessary to protect Al-Aqsa and the holy sites.

For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry considered the decision "a declaration of religious war and a coup against the status quo." The ministry added that this decision represented an official Israeli coup against the status quo in Al-Aqsa Mosque and completely changing it.

And she stressed that the decision is "new evidence that the judicial system and courts in Israel are an integral part of the occupation system itself", and another evidence of providing legal protection and coverage for Jewish extremists' incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the aim of consolidating its temporal division until it is divided spatially.

The Palestinian Presidency warned against the decision of the occupation court to allow settlers to perform Talmudic rituals in Al-Aqsa, describing the matter as a "dangerous violation of the historical situation in the Temple Mount," while the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that it played with fire and crossed all red lines.

Jordan also considered the decision null and without legal effect.

During the past weeks, tension prevailed in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Squares, following Israeli incursions into the mosque and the outbreak of confrontations because of them, which left injuries and arrests among Palestinians.

In October 2021, the same court decided to allow Jews to pray silently in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli violations in Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood (central Jerusalem), May 2021, caused the outbreak of a military confrontation between Israel and the factions in the Gaza Strip, which lasted 11 days.

The Palestinians adhere to East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state, based on international legitimacy resolutions, which do not recognize Israel's occupation of the city in 1967 or its annexation in 1981.