The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem issued a terse statement Wednesday night refuting a claim by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir earlier in the day that he has the right to change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” the PMO said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant likewise issued a blunt rejection of Ben-Gvir’s claims.
“Itamar Ben-Gvir is constantly trying to blow up the Middle East. I categorically reject any ideas of hurting the Status Quo in the holy city of Jerusalem,” Gallant said.
One week after ascending to the Temple Mount — as he often has through the years — Ben-Gvir told attendees at the “Israel’s Return to the Temple Mount” conference in the Knesset on Wednesday that he gets to make the decisions on what happens on the Temple Mount.
“I am the political echelon, and the political echelon permits Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount,” Ben-Gvir announced.
The right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, where today three mosques are located, has long been controversial. Arab states and the Palestinian Authority insist that Jewish prayer on the sacred site would constitute a change in the status quo established following the 1967 Six Day War.
For the most part, the Israeli government has toed the line drawn in the sand by the Muslim world and fearful supporters such as the United States and other Western nations. But there is a growing wave of grassroots support in Israel pressing the government to relax its restrictions and allow Jews to pray at the site where two Holy Temples were built and destroyed and which is considered one of the holiest sites in the Jewish faith.
