Biden Admin. Objects to Jewish MK Visiting Temple Mount
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Thursday, observing the austere Jewish holy day of Tisha B’Av which commemorates the destruction of the Jewish Temples that stood at the site.
The US Embassy criticized the visit.
“The US stands firmly for the preservation of the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem,” the statement read. “Any unilateral action or rhetoric that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable.”
The statement did not specify what was objectionable about the minister’s visit as Jews are permitted to visit the site. Israeli law mandates freedom of religious expression and equality at holy sites. The White House has never criticized visits to the site by Arab MKs who frequently use the site as a platform for incitement.
Ben-Gvir informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in advance of his intention to go up to the Temple Mount, his third visit to Judaism’s holiest site this year. Ben Gvir is an Orthodox Jew and has been visiting the site regularly for years as part of his personal religious observance.
During his Temple Mount visit, Ben Gvir made a statement calling for unity.
“On this day, in this place, it’s very important to remember, we are all brothers. Right-wing, left-wing, religious, secular, we are all the same people. When a terrorist looks out the window, he doesn’t discriminate between us. Unity is important, and love of Israel is important,” Ben Gvir said.
Ben Gvir’s statement was a reference to the protests against judicial reforms being instituted by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition. The protests have caused a rift in Israeli society. President Biden has openly criticized Netanyahu for the proposed reforms and refused to invite the Israeli PM to the White House.
The US Embassy seems to be mistaken about the status quo and laws concerning Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount. The “status quo” regarding Jerusalem is based on a firman (decree) of Ottoman sultan Osman III in 1757 that preserved the division of ownership and responsibilities of various Christian holy places. The details were further formalized in the 1949 United Nations Conciliation Commission after the 1947–1949 war. The firman and consequent status quo ensured the Jewish right to visit their holy sites (albeit with limitations) but when Jordan illegally occupied Jerusalem, Hebron, and Bethlehem in 1948, Jews were barred from the holy sites in contravention of this status quo. Jews were not permitted back to their holy sites until the IDF conquered them in 1967.
The Waqf has not honored the status quo, establishing four new mosques on the Temple Mount since 1967. Non-Muslims were permitted to enter the Dome of the Rock until 2000 but are now prohibited.
Currently, there is no law prohibiting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. Jewish prayer is, in fact, protected by Israeli law ensuring freedom of religion. This law has been upheld several times in the Supreme Court, defending the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, most notably in a 2014 Magistrate’s Court case brought by Rabbi Yehudah Glick. This ruling is based on legally protected freedom of religion.
Ben Gvir was one of 2,180 Jews who visited the site on Tisha B’av. Many Jewish MKs visited the site on the holy day. A report published in February revealed that some 20,329 Jews had visited the Temple Mount since the start of the Jewish year on Sept. 25, 2022, a 16% increase compared to the same time last year, with an average of 140 Jews ascending the holy site daily despite dire restrictions on Jewish visitation.
The US Embassy’s statement echoed that of Jordan’s Foreign Ministry which also slammed the minister’s move, adding a thinly veiled threat, calling Ben Gvir’s visit a violation of the status quo that “threatens to escalate the situation into more rounds of violence.”
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry claimed that the visit to Temple Mount was “an official Israeli cover for the ongoing invasions and the plans to Judaize the Al-Aqsa mosque and to impose forced changes on the existing historical and legal reality, as an inseparable part of the Judaization of Jerusalem.”
Hamas issued a statement calling Ben-Gvir’s ascension a “dangerous escalation” and vowing to “defend the identity of the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque and protect its Islamic and Arab character at all costs.”
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