Israel's Ben-Gvir says Jewish prayer must be allowed at Al-Aqsa, causing outrage

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in the Israeli Knesset that he would allow Jewish prayer in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday.

During the controversial conference entitled 'Israel's Return to the Temple Mount', the Jewish name for the Al-Aqsa compound, Ben-Gvir announced he had prayed on the site in defiance of long-standing conventions and agreements.

"What needs to be said quietly will be done quietly. I was on the Temple Mount. I prayed on the Temple Mount," he was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

"They tell me 'political leadership' is against it. I am the political leadership. And the political leadership allows Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount," he added.

He said that all areas of the site should be open to Jews to pray and that there was no reason the site should not be open "24/7" for this purpose.

His comments sparked outrage from fellow Israeli politicians, both in government and opposition, as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Knesset.

Likud MK Moshe Gafni said that prayer on the mount was a "severe violation" of Jewish law and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "not allow the status quo to change".

There is debate about prayer inside the compound within Judaism, with Israel currently formally adhering to a ban on Jewish prayer, although not Jewish visits, to the compound.

This ban was reaffirmed by the commander of the Israeli police's Holy Sites Unit who said that prayer was not allowed on the site, amid frequent stormings of Al-Aqsa by Jewish settlers who carry out provocative rituals there.

Opposition MK and former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz called for Ben-Gvir to be "stripped of all his authorities relating to sensitive security issues", while Interior Minister Moshe Arbel labelled the act as blasphemous.

Labor MK Gilad Kariv said that he was a "pyromaniac interested in igniting a Third Intifada", a label that was also used by leftist MK Ofer Cassif.

Meanwhile, Arab MK Ahmad Tibi labelled ben-Gvir a "racist fascist who wants to start a religious war."

In 2000 a visit to the site by late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, notorious for his role in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians in Lebanon, is widely cited as triggering the Second Intifada.

The prime minister's office has since said that the status quo at the site has not and will not change.

In addition to controversy over the Al-Aqsa compound, Ben-Gvir has also received criticism for seeking to elevate his status in the Israeli cabinet that would enable him to make decisions regarding the management of Israel's war on Gaza.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Ben-Gvir was "trying to ignite the Middle East" in a post on X, adding that he "oppose[s] any negotiations to bring him into the war cabinet - it would allow him to implement his plans."

Ben-Gvir had been negotiating an entry into a war cabinet-like forum in return for allowing a bill to move through parliament that would see the appointment of communal rabbis move from local authorities to the religious affairs minister.

Following his comments, Ben-Gvir labelled both Gallant and Ayre Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party who blocked his inclusion as "left wing" and "striving for a reckless deal and end of the war."

Israel's war on Gaza, which has seen Ben-Gvir openly call for the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza and advocate Israeli resettlement of the enclave, has killed 39,145 Palestinians and left over 90,000 injured.