Ben Gvir leads Israeli worshippers into Al-Aqsa compound on Tisha B’Av

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of Israeli Jews into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday, according to Dawn and AFP, in a move that again put the long-standing rules governing the site under pressure. The visit took place on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning that marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples. This year, the fast was observed from Wednesday night through Thursday, and AFP footage showed Ben Gvir among a large group of worshippers inside the compound, where some visitors were seen praying. The location is among the most sensitive religious sites in the region. Situated in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the compound is revered by Muslims as Islam’s third holiest site and by Jews as the holiest place in Judaism, where the ancient temples once stood. Access there is governed by a decades-old arrangement that allows Jewish visits but not Jewish prayer, while Muslim worship is meant to continue without interruption. That arrangement, often described as the status quo, is administered with religious oversight from Jordan. It has long been treated as a key safeguard against escalation, but it has also been increasingly contested. Ben Gvir and other Jewish visitors have repeatedly been accused of pushing beyond its limits in recent years, including by praying openly at the site. In a video posted on his Telegram channel and quoted by AFP, Ben Gvir said Jews were praying there and described them as the “rightful owners” of the site. He also said the State of Israel is the sovereign authority there and suggested more changes were still to come. Those remarks are likely to heighten concern among Palestinians, Jordanian officials and Muslim religious authorities, who have repeatedly condemned similar visits in the past. Dawn reported that the visit drew criticism from Jordan, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and Muslim religious bodies. The broader significance of Thursday’s events is less about a single visit than the continuing strain on one of Jerusalem’s most volatile flashpoints, where religious symbolism, political authority and national identity overlap. What remains unclear from the available reporting is whether there were any immediate security incidents inside or around the compound. The details provided point mainly to the scale of the visit and the political message around it, rather than to any direct confrontation. Still, the timing matters. Tisha B’Av is already one of the most charged dates in the Jewish calendar for the site, and visits by senior Israeli officials can carry a meaning far beyond the number of people involved. For Palestinians and many in the wider Muslim world, such moves are often seen as challenges to the existing arrangement. For Ben Gvir’s supporters, they are framed as expressions of Jewish rights and sovereignty. That tension is why the Al-Aqsa compound remains central to regional diplomacy and to recurring flare-ups in Jerusalem. Each time the boundaries of the status quo are tested, the risk is not only a public dispute but a wider political reaction across the occupied Palestinian territories and beyond. For now, the latest visit adds to a pattern that has made the site a persistent source of friction: a sacred place governed by an arrangement that relies heavily on restraint, even as officials on all sides continue to test how far that restraint can stretch.

Source: Dawn Home - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017854/far-right-israeli-minister-ben-gvir-storms-al-aqsa-mosque-compound-with-hundreds-of-followers