Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound on Tuesday morning during his first week in office, in his first visit to the contested Jerusalem holy site since he assumed office last week.
Ben-Gvir stated both during and after the election that he wanted to bring about changes to the longstanding religious status quo on the Temple Mount to allow Jews to pray there. On the eve of the election, he stated that he would demand that Netanyahu introduce "equal rights for Jews" on the mountain.
Amid threats from Hamas that such a visit "would lead to an explosion," the firebrand lawmaker had reportedly agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay the visit to the compound.
But a statement from Ben-Gvir declared that "Our government will not submit to Hamas threats. The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel, and we maintain freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews will also go up to the mount. Whoever makes threats will be met with an iron fist."
According to eyewitnesses, Ben-Gvir spent several minutes alone in the compound. He requested to visit the site on Monday explaining that the visit was intended to mark the fast of the Tenth of Tevet. Accompanying the visit were also members of the "Temple Mount Administration," an unofficial organization working to promote Jewish pilgrimage to the Mount.
The police reported that the minister held a situation assessment with them on Monday evening, at the end of which it was decided to allow his visit to the mount "in coordination with the political echelons." According to the police, the visit to the compound ended "without any unusual incidents."
Ben-Gvir declared "that times have changed" following the establishment of the new government, reiterating that the Temple Mount "is open to all."
In a statement on the visit Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel said that "If Hamas violates the current existing peace and opens fire on Israeli territory we will respond as I think we should, and yes it would be worth it because this will be the last war and after that we can sit and raise doves and all the other beautiful birds that exist."
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, however, told Israeli news site Walla immediately after the visit that any threat to the status quo is "unacceptable."
Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also joined in, tweeting "This is what happens when a weak prime minister is forced to entrust the most irresponsible man in the Middle East to the most explosive place in the Middle East."
Spokesperson to Mahmoud Abbas, Nabill Abu Rudeineh, called the visit "a provocative step against the Palestinian people." He called on the American administration to take responsibility and force Israel to stop the escalation and aggression at the Al-Aqsa Mosque before it is too late.
According to Rudeineh, "the Al-Aqsa invasions turned from being settler break-ins to Israeli government invasions."
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said the "crime of the fascist Zionist Ben-Gvir in breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque is a continuation of the Zionist occupation's aggression against our sanctity and our Arab identity."
"The Palestinian people will continue to defend the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and to fight to cleanse it from the impurities of the occupation, and this battle will not stop until the final victory of our nation in expelling the occupier from all our lands," he added.
Jordan, which is the custodian of the holy site, condemned the visit 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."
Ben-Gvir's last visit to the compound took place last March and lasted about fifteen minutes during which he said, "My visit here conveys a very simple message – I will not surrender, and I will not capitulate. The State of Israel must not capitulate to terrorists who are trying to murder us all."
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City is considered the holiest site in Judaism, having been the seat of the two ancient temples. At the same time, it is also the seat of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site.
Since Israel conquered East Jerusalem in 1967, it allows Jews to visit on the condition that they refrain from prayer or religious rites, but radical groups have been praying there with increasing frequency, sometimes under the protection of the police.
In September 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in what was widely considered as an immediate trigger for five years of violence in the Second Intifada.
Since then, visits by Israeli politicians to the Temple Mount have been considered provocations and a threat to the status quo.
In 2015, Netanyahu reached a tripartite agreement with Jordan and the United States in an effort to ease tensions. As part of the agreements, Knesset members were prohibited from visiting the Mount. After about two years, the ban was removed with the requirement of coordinating visits with a Knesset officer 24 hours in advance.
Lawmakers are permitted to make these visits during Jewish visiting hours and must take a route where Jewish pilgrims are permitted to walk. Like other non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount, Jewish politicians do not enter the mosques, but are able to visit the mosque square.