Israel's Ben Gvir says he wants to build a synagogue in Al-Aqsa Mosque complex
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has said that if he could, he would build a synagogue on the Al-Asqa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.
Under a longstanding international agreement, Jews are not allowed to pray on the site.
"If I could do what I wanted, a synagogue would also be established on the Temple Mount," Ben Gvir told Israel's Army Radio on Monday morning. Jewish tradition refers to the Al-Aqsa site as Temple Mount.
"If I were to say that Muslims are not allowed to pray, you would kill me."
Ben Gvir said that he would not prevent a Muslim from bringing a prayer mat to the Western Wall, an important Jewish site in Jerusalem's Old City.
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"Of course not. Everyone would say that’s racism, but Muslims do not recognise the sanctity of the Western Wall," Ben Gvir said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Monday that there had been no change in the status quo at Al-Aqsa.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden, according to decades-long international agreements.
Israeli groups, in coordination with authorities, have long violated the delicate arrangement and facilitated raids on the site and performed prayers and religious rituals.
Ben Gvir, and several other far-right politicians and members of Israel's government, have frequently joined the raids on Al-Aqsa.
Palestinians fear that these Israeli incursions are laying the groundwork for the mosque to be divided between Muslims and Jews, similar to how the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron was divided in the 1990s.
'Provocative and irresponsible'
Ben Gvir's comments were widely criticised by a number of Israeli ministers and politicians.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: "Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible act. Ben Gvir's actions endanger the national security of the state of Israel and its international status."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said Ben Gvir's "irresponsible statements put Israel's strategic alliances with Muslim countries" at risk, who he said were part of a coalition "in the fight against the Iranian axis of evil".
Arbel belongs to the Shas party, an ultra-Orthodox faction in the coalition government which rejects the push for a greater Jewish presence at Al-Aqsa.
Many ultra-Orthodox communities believe the area to be sacred, and follow rabbinic prohibitions on visiting the site.
Jews refer to the site as the Temple Mount, where two ancient Jewish temples are believed to have once stood.
The first temple was believed to have been built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians, while the second temple was destroyed by the Romans.
On the southwest side of the mosque's ancient walls is the Western Wall, which Jews believe is the only surviving remnant of the second temple following its destruction by the Romans.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that "the entire region sees Netanyahu's weakness in the face of Ben Gvir".
"He is unable to control the government, even when this is a clear attempt to undermine our national security. There is no policy, no strategy, and there is, in reality, no government," Lapid added.
Benny Gantz, who quit Israel's war cabinet two months ago, wrote on X that there had been no change "in the historic status quo of The Temple Mount".
"Despite the provocative and irresponsible rhetoric by some, Israel is committed to preserving this historic status and has no intention on changing it. The freedom of worship will always be guaranteed at the holy site."
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