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  • Controversy The EU cancels the reception of Europe Day in Israel to avoid the speech of an ultranationalist minister

As happened in January, the visit this Sunday of the Israeli ultranationalist leader Itamar Ben Gvir to the Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem has provoked the condemnation of several Arab countries and the warning of the Palestinian leadership about the "grave consequences of the flagrant attack".

His second visit, which, like the first, was brief and unannounced in advance, as Minister of Internal Security to the Temple Mount (Judaism) or Noble Sanctuary (Islam) comes after failing to do so, as he used to do in the past, on Jerusalem Day last Thursday in which Israel celebrated the unification of the city after occupying its eastern part. Under Jordanian control, in the War of 67. Ben Gvir denied then that warnings from Islamic Jihad and Hamas led him to refrain from going to Judaism's holiest site and the center of a tense national and religious dispute.

"I am happy to climb the Temple Mount, the most important place for the people of Israel. I have to say that the policemen do a great job and again show who is in charge in Jerusalem," he said on the shrine's esplanade early in the morning before adding: "All threats from Hamas will be useless, we are the owners of Jerusalem and the entire Land of Israel."

The leader of the far-right Jewish Power party took advantage of the media echo of his visit to demand more investments in the Negev (south) and Galilee (north) in the framework of his confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his condition to vote in favor of the budgets in the coming days.

On the occasion of Jerusalem Day, the weekly meeting of the Government was held this Sunday in the tunnels of the Western Wall. There Netanyahu announced the 60 million NIS increase from the budget framework of the five-year plan "to improve infrastructure and encourage visits to the Western Wall square." Regarding the threats of Ben Gvir and an ultra-Orthodox party not to vote in favor of the Budget, the veteran leader of the Likud advocated maintaining the coalition out of the November elections to stop, he said, external pressures in favor of the partition of Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem was our capital about 1100 years before London became the capital of England, about 1800 years before Paris was the capital of France and about 2800 years before Washington was the capital of the United States," Netanyahu said that sent a message to the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PA): "Abu Mazen said a few days ago at the UN that the Jewish people have no connection to the Temple Mount and that East Jerusalem is part of the Palestinian Authority. For your attention, today we hold the special government meeting in honor of Jerusalem at the foot of the Temple Mount, where King Solomon built the first Temple of the Jewish people. The heart of the historic State of Israel, the City of David, was already here 3,000 years ago."

Third holiest mosque for Islam

Jordan, which after the peace agreement with Israel in 1994 enjoys a special status over the Noble Sanctuary that includes the third holiest mosque for Islam, was the first Arab country to react: "We condemn in the strongest terms the storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Minister of National Security of Israel under the guard and protection of the Israeli occupation forces."

"It is a flagrant violation of international law, and of the historical and legal situation in Jerusalem and the Holy Places," Jordanian spokesman Sinan Mayali said of what he called a "provocative step." Jordan called on the international community to act to curb these actions and others such as settlement construction.

Egypt, which in 1979 became the first country to make peace with the Jewish state, warns that "these provocations are contrary to the responsibility and understanding expected of senior officials of the Israeli government." Cairo also called on Israel not to take any more "escalation steps that add to the tension already existing in the city."

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates joined the condemnation shared by the Palestinian leadership. "The incursion of the extremist Ben-Gvir at an early hour, like thieves, in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque will not change reality and will not impose Israeli sovereignty over it," Abu Mazen's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, warned as the Islamist group Hamas called on Palestinians to intensify their visits to the Al Aqsa Mosque to "remain a wall in the face of all attempts to desecrate it and make it Jewish."

Hamas followed in detail from Gaza on Thursday when thousands of Israelis, mostly identified with the religious nationalist sector, arrived at the Western Wall to celebrate the unification of the city. Their eyes and warnings in the so-called Parade of Flags focused on the Damascus Gate and the Muslim quarter of the Old City where a group of protesters passed as every year. The traditional date of tensions and clashes between Israelis and Palestinians over the sovereignty of Jerusalem was the first major review of the truce that a week ago ended five days of attacks between Israel and Islamic Jihad.

Egypt, the main mediator between Israel and the Gaza factions, warned the Israeli government that any issue related to Jerusalem and especially its Holy Places, can quickly become the trigger for a new escalation.

Only Muslims can pray on the Esplanade of the Mosques while those who are not Muslims have the right to visit it without being able to pray according to the status quo. In the face of the significant increase in the number of Jewish visitors, Israel's Chief Rabbinate recently reiterated the categorical Jewish religious ban on visiting the Temple Mount.

Netanyahu is aware that visits by Ben Gvir such as those on Sunday not only raise the unease of his neighbors but damage his attempts to normalize relations with more Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, under the umbrella of the Abraham Accords.

  • Israel
  • Hamas
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Islam
  • Jordan
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Attacks

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