In an interview with Israeli radio on Monday Ben Gvir announced plans to build a synagogue within the Al-Aqsa Mosque He claimed that existing guidelines allowed Jewish prayer at the site and that “the same laws apply to Jews and Muslims.”
These comments come against the backdrop of the almost daily storming of the site by illegal Israeli settlers who perform provocative Jewish rituals at the Muslim site.
Under an agreement between the Israeli regime and the Jordanian government, following the regime’s occupation of Al-Quds in 1967, banned non-Muslim worshippers from worshipping at the holy site. But the ban is just a phrase, and in practice circumstances have worked against Muslims.
Meanwhile, extremist Jewish groups have openly announced their intention to destroy the mosque and build a temple there.
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However, Ben Gvir’s latest statement sparked immediate backlash even within the regime. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, aware of the anger the regime might face, promptly issued a clarification, assuring that there would be no change to the existing status quo in al-Aqsa.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel was one of the first to condemn the proposal and called on Netanyahu to remove Ben Gvir from office. Arbel warned that Ben Gvir’s comments could jeopardize the regime’s diplomatic relations with Muslim-majority countries and have serious consequences.
Opposition leader Benny Gantz claimed that the regime was committed to the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque. He criticized Benjamin Netanyahu for allowing “an irresponsible arsonist to plunge us into the abyss in exchange for political peace,” referring to Ben Gvir.
Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, also condemned Netanyahu for keeping the far-right politician in the government. “The whole region sees Netanyahu’s weakness against Ben-Gvir,” Lapid said on X.
Source: Agencies
