Israel, Ben Gvir provokes again: “I would build a synagogue on the Temple Mount”. The Sharon-style move to undermine negotiations on Gaza

Months of ultimatums launched to the government of which he is minister to induce Benjamin Netanyahu to use an even harder fist against Hamasinterspersed with provocations on the status quo of the Temple Mount. Every time he speaks or moves, Ithamar Ben Gvir brings the lighter ever closer to a fuse that threatens to blow up the entire region. Today, the Israeli Minister of National Security said in an interview with Military Radio that at the place that Muslim believers in Jerusalem call “Esplanade of the Mosques“he”would build a synagogue” because “there is no equality of rights between Jews and Muslims”. Just words, one might say, if it were not for the extreme delicacy of the context in which they arrive, in the midst of the difficult negotiations for the ceasefire in Gaza.

The site, located in the heart of the Old City, has become his favorite stage in recent weeks. The August 13th the ultra-nationalist leader of Otzma Yehudit He went up the mountain on the occasion of the fast of Tisha B’Av (memory of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem), with hundreds of followers who prostrated themselves on the ground to prayviolating international agreements that regulate access to the site, considered sacred by the three major monotheistic religions. According to the agreements signed after the Six-Day War (1967), the site is located in the area controlled by Israel, but its administration is entrusted to the Islamic Religious Fund (Waqf) with Jordan acting as guarantor. The status quo provides that Muslims can pray there, while followers of other faiths are allowed to enter but not to pray or celebrate religious ceremonies. An agreement stipulated under the aegis of the United States, which Ben Gvir has used as a fuse since he took office.

His first “visit” dates back to January 3, 2023when he had been in the role of minister for just a couple of weeks. The May 22nd he had returned there, and it was the first time since the beginning of the war in Gaza. His third “first time” came on July 18 when he repeated the provocation after the start of ceasefire negotiations promoted by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. “I was on the Temple Mount and there I prayed – had confirmed the July 24th -. They tell me that the political leadership is against it. I am the political leadership and political leadership allows Jewish prayer” on the spot.

For security officials, violations of the status quo can trigger mass riotsas the Temple Mount has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces and tensions overall have fueled past waves of violence. Ben Gvir knows this very well and his provocations take on a very specific political meaning in the concept of “stroll” which dates back to the times of Ariel Sharon: on September 28, 2000, the leader of the then opposition Likud entered accompanied by a thousand armed men and “strolled” on the Esplanade, triggering the Second Intifada. Not even four months later the hero of the Yom Kippur War had become prime minister.

Today the new incendiary words, coming after yesterday some Jewish faithful had again gone up to pray on the Mount. “The policies on the Temple Mount allow prayer, period,” Ben Gvir told army radio, implicitly denying the validity of international agreements. “Why would a Jew be afraid to pray? Why will Hamas get angry?” he then asked rhetorically. Netanyahu “knows that when I entered the government,” he continued, “I said there would be no discrimination at the Temple Mount, just as Muslims can pray at the Western Wall.” And when asked if he would build a synagogue on the Esplanade, Ben Gvir replied: “Yes, yes, yes, yes“.

THE’Palestinian National Authority he responded by saying that the statement amounts to an appeal for the mosque to Al Aqsawhich stands on the Esplanade, be razed to the ground. For Hamas Ben Gvir urged Palestinians to gather en masse at the site “to counter the occupation’s plans.” And the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem called it a move that “pushes the region towards an explosion which will have repercussions on the entire world”. At the moment, however, the first thing in danger are the very delicate ceasefire negotiations in the Strip underway in Egypt. Ben Gvir has always said he is against them: “We are destroying Hamas. Now should we go to a conference and surrender?” he asked in an interview on August 11. Two days later he led hundreds of ultra-Orthodox nationalists to pray on the Temple Mount.