Abdelraouf Arnaout
02 January 2023•Update: 03 January 2023
JERUSALEM
Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Monday slammed a planned visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem as a “deliberate provocation."
"Itamar Ben-Gvir must not go up to Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque complex)," Lapid said on Twitter, warning that the move would lead to "a deliberate provocation that will put lives in danger and cost lives."
Lapid called on current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to allow Ben-Gvir to go ahead with his visit.
Israeli public broadcaster KAN earlier said that Ben-Gvir’s office had notified the police of his plans to visit the flashpoint site on Tuesday or Wednesday.
If confirmed, the tour will be the first by the far-right Cabinet minister to the mosque complex since he joined Netanyahu’s new government last week.
Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in storming the mosque complex in East Jerusalem.
The far-right politician also caused a wave of escalation in the occupied city after setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Last November, President Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio that "the whole world is worried" about Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area as the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar
