After an ultra-nationalist march through Jerusalem a few days prior, a far-right minister’s visit is criticized by Hamas.
The far-right minister of national security for Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, announced “we’re in charge here” as he and a group of followers entered Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday morning.
The visit to the location, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and regarded as the holiest place in Judaism, will be viewed by Palestinians as a provocative act and comes just days after tens of thousands of Jewish ultra-nationalists marched through occupied East Jerusalem as part of the yearly “flag march” rally.
Ben Gvir stated in a statement, “I’m pleased to be ascending the Temple Mount, the most significant location to the Jewish people. “We’re the ones in charge here.”
According to Israeli police, the journey went off without a hitch. According to Haaretz, Ben Gvir did not plan the visit with the Jordanian Waqf, the organization that is supposed to be in charge of the location.
Uninvited visits, prayers, and rituals by non-Muslims are prohibited at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in accordance with long-standing international accords.
Israeli groups have long violated the delicate agreement and helped facilitate raids on the site while also conducting prayers and religious rituals in coordination with the authorities.
The Israeli nationalist leader’s visit on Sunday received harsh criticism from Hamas, the Palestinian group in charge of the Gaza Strip.
The group claimed on Telegram that Israel would “bear responsibility for the barbaric incursions of its ministers and herds of settlers,” and that the action “confirms the depths of danger looming over Al-Aqsa, under this Zionist fascist government and the arrogance of its ministers from the extreme right.”.
On Thursday, Ben Gvir and other extreme right priests and legislators joined the troublesome “banner walk” in East Jerusalem, which saw Israeli cops and ultra-patriots attacking Palestinians and writers.
Marchers tossed stones at a correspondent and different writers covering the get-together in the Damascus Entryway region close to the Old City.
At least two journalists were injured and hit in the head.
Many members were conveying the dark banner of the bigoted extreme right Lehava bunch while reciting “your town will be scorched”.
In another location, Palestinian residents were beaten by ultra-nationalists marching through the Muslim quarter of the Old City, resulting in a few fights. Palestinians who were already being attacked were assaulted by Israeli police as they intervened.
Protests against the right continues
A huge number of Israelis joined fights the nation over, presently entering their twentieth week, on Saturday against State leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s challenged plans to fix controls on the High Court.
The arranged update, which would give the public authority command over naming adjudicators to the High Court and allowed parliament to supersede numerous decisions, was stopped after adversaries coordinated probably the greatest road fights at any point found in Israel.
The government asserts that the overhaul is necessary to reestablish a balance between elected politicians and the judiciary, and that activist judges are increasingly usurping the role of parliament.
According to its critics, it will give the government unchecked power and eliminate crucial checks and balances that support a democratic state.
An ocean of blue and white Israeli banners, which have turned into an image of the fights, covered a focal roadway in Tel Aviv. “Israel is almost a dictatorship” was chanted by protesters as the crowd waved a banner with the words “stop them.”