Israeli Minister Calls For Freedom Of Jewish Citizens Pray At Al Aqsa Complex, PM Netanyahu: Status Quo Has Not Changed

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (blue address). (Twitter/@itamarbengvir)

JAKARTA - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office confirmed the status quo at the Al Aqsa Mosque Complex or Gunung Temple has not changed, after Israel's right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Jews to pray freely in the holy place which became one of the hotspots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Hebrew-language media reported about 1,600 Jewish pilgrims entered Temple Mount on Wednesday morning, including an activist wearing a tefilline, or fiacterial, as it walked around the site, an act of worship that had long been banned.

In what will be a violation of the long-standing unwritten regulation at Temple Mount, the ultranationalist minister in charge of the Israeli Police in charge of security at the venue, told Israel's Galei Radio his policy was to allow Jews to pray at the compound.

"I'm also happy that Jews went to Temple Mount and prayed there today," the minister, who attended the annual Jerusalem Day Flag Parade through the Muslim Territory in Kota Tua, reported The Times of Israel June 6.

"This is very important. My policy is very clear on this issue: Jews can be anywhere in Jerusalem, praying anywhere," he said.

In this regard, Benjamin Netanyahu's Prime Minister's Office issued a statement stating "the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change", after Ben Gvir claimed the status quo had changed.

Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old Town is the holiest place in Jewish religion, as the location of two temples in the Bible. While Muslims, this is known as Haram al-Sharif or Your Holy Place, this place is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

Temple Mount or Al Aqsa Mosque Complex is often a scene of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces.

In response to Ben Gvir's comments, Israeli Parliament member Waleed Alhwashla of the Ra'am Islamic party wrote on social media, calling for "corruption of the status quo," the national security minister did "all he could to burn Jerusalem and the rest of the country."

"To declare every additional day he spends as a minister in charge of the police and law enforcement is a real and real danger to all of us," Alhwashla stressed that it was not enough for Netanyahu to issue a statement against Ben Gvir.

"It's time to turn it off," he said.

Ben Gvir, who heads the far-right party Otzma Baddit, is a strong supporter of greater access for Jews to Temple Mount, has made several visits to the site during his tenure as minister.

A video uploaded to X last month showed Jews from the Ben Gvir group praying during the visit, which many people considered a provocation.

Speaking during the Jerusalem Day march, Ben Gvir repeatedly emphasized that Jews had Jerusalem and its holy places. Before leaving for the Old City, he declared the celebration of Jerusalem Day this year sending a message to Hamas, "Yerusalem belongs to us."

"The Damascus Movement belongs to us. The Mount Temple belongs to us. And, the full victory belongs to us," he said at the start of the nationalist march, flanked by lawmaker Otzma Baddit and Minister of Social Equality May Golan from Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Speaking to the press at Damascus Gate after the march, Ben Gvir spoke in the same tone, saying he wanted to convey a message to many Palestinians who kept photos of the holy place in their homes.

They hung "photos of Temple Mount and there are photos of Jerusalem, and we told them: Jerusalem belongs to us. The Damascus gate belongs to us. Temple Mount belongs to us," he said.

"Today, according to my policy, Jews enter Kota Tua freely. And at Temple Mount the Jews pray freely. We say it in the simplest way, it belongs to us," he said.