Israel's far-right Ben Gvir visits flashpoint Jerusalem holy site as Palestinians slam 'provocation'

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

Israel’s far-right Ben Gvir visits flashpoint Jerusalem holy site as Palestinians slam ‘provocation’

By Abeer Salman, Irene Nasser and Elliott Gotkine, CNN
Updated 5:49 PM EST, Tue January 3, 2023

Jerusalem (CNN) — Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday visited the Jerusalem compound known as the Temple Mount by Jews and the Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary by Muslims, in a move that drew international condemnation.

Videos published on Israeli media showed Ben Gvir walking through the compound surrounded by Israeli police.

Tensions are high over the flashpoint complex, which is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. It contains the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the site of the destroyed first and second Jewish Temples. Only Muslims are allowed to pray at the complex under a decades-old agreement; Ben Gvir believes that Jews should have the right to pray there, too.

Palestinians immediately objected to the visit.

“We strongly condemn extremist Ben Gvir’s storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and we consider it an unprecedented provocation and a serious threat,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We hold (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu responsible for its consequences on the conflict and the region.”

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/03/middleeast/israel-palestinians-jerusalem-ben-gvir-intl/index.html

[The Magistrate]

1. He's An Asshole, Sir, But He Is Right

Jews have as much right to pray there as anybody does anywhere else.

[sabbat hunter]

2. IMHO

it was an act of provocation. He was trying to get Muslims/Palestinians to attack him, or people with him, so there could be a 'crackdown' on Palestinians.

I was taught back in Hebrew school that Jews should not go onto the Temple Mount, because we do not know where the Holy of Holies was located, and by going on to the Temple Mount we could enter that area, and violate, a number of laws.

And this was in an Orthodox hebrew school.
Neither I or my family were/are orthodox, but that is a story for another day.

[The Magistrate]

3. Who Cares?

It's a provocation? So what?

Don't be drawn.

I am aware of that sound argument against such visits by a devout Jew. I agree the man should not have done it, and on religious as well as political grounds.

But he had a perfect right to. And had he been ignored by people playing checkers when he did, there wouldn't be a man more sorely disappointed on the face of the earth.

[sabbat hunter]

4. He absolutely had the right

as does anyone else who wants to go to the Temple Mount.
I am willing to bet that if he had quietly, by himself, he probably would have been ignored.
He wanted the attention. And he got it.

[sabbat hunter]

5. Can someone explain to me how

Ben Gvir, as minister of security can just unilaterally decided that the Palestinian flag is a sign of terrorism, and order they be taken down on sight? How does a minister have that kind of power?