A string of condemnations from several Arab countries quickly followed Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s storming of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir broke into the holy site amid tight security measures. The break-in lasted for 13 minutes, local sources reported.
He requested to break into the site on Monday claiming that the visit was intended to mark the fast of the Tenth of Tevet.
On Sunday, Ben-Gvir said he would visit the holy site in the near future. New Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke with Ben-Gvir on Monday to discuss his intention to visit the site. The Likud confirmed that, following consultations with security establishment officials, Netanyahu did not object to Ben-Gvir’s break-in.
Jordan condemned the storming in the “severest” terms, saying that Ben-Gvir’s “storming” of the compound not only violates the status quo at the site, but also requires “international intervention.”
The Israeli ambassador in Amman was also summoned yesterday to protest Ben-Gvir’s incursion into the holy site.
The United Arab Emirates issued a statement condemning the break-in, calling it an “attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, described Ben-Gvir’s storming as a “break-in” under the auspices of Israeli forces.
Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the world’s top Islamic institution for Sunni Muslims, described incursion of Ben-Gvir as a “barbaric” behavior and an act of desecration of the Islamic holy sites.
Saudi Arabia also condemned the ‘provocative actions’ of a senior Israeli official who ‘attacked’ the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex,” its foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that such a “provocative attack… undermines international efforts and religious sanctities.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, called any attempt to change the status quo is “an act of aggression not just against the Palestinians, but against millions of Muslims,” adding that they hold Israel responsible “for the violence that will break out from this policy against Palestinians.”
In Lebanon, the foreign ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s storming as a “serious violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque,” which “indicates the direction of the extremist policies the Israeli government has adopted toward the Palestinian people and their rights and sanctities.”
Oman’s foreign ministry also slammed Ben-Gvir’s “provocative action,” calling the international community to end Israel’s occupation and achieve a just peace.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which represents 57 Muslim countries “strongly condemned the incursion by the extremist Israeli minister Ben-Gvir into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound with the protection of the Israeli Defense Forces against Muslims.”
The Arab League, made up of 22 countries, held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for “the consequences of these far-right practices and plans and their repercussions on Palestine, the region and world peace, including the possibility of unleashing a religious war.”
Ben-Gvir’s last storming of the holy site took place last March and lasted about fifteen minutes.
Since 2014, stormings by Israeli occupation officials to the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been considered provocations and a threat to the status quo. Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s storming to the site in 2000 sparked the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
Ben-Gvir was sworn in last week as part of a new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
In response to Ben-Gvir’s Sunday remarks, Hamas warned that such a step will explode the situation.
“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 published Monday.
He added that the planned visit was “another example of the arrogance of the settler government and their future plans to damage and divide Al-Aqsa mosque”.
“The Palestinian resistance will not allow the neo-fascist occupation government to cross the red lines and encroach on our people and our sanctities.”
According to a report by the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news channel, Hamas “won’t sit idly by” if Ben-Gvir goes to the site, violating an agreement banning non-Muslims from entering the site without permission.
Israel’s opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid had warned that such a visit by Ben-Gvir would spark violence.
Following his break-in, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry also said Tuesday it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict.”
