Ben Gvir ascends Temple Mount in Jerusalem, prays for hostages but against hostage deal

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ascended Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Thursday morning, amid heavy security.

According to the controversial minister, his visit to the Temple Mount amid the war against Hamas was intended to show his opposition to a possible hostage and truce deal with the terror group, as negotiations seemed to have advanced despite the recent probable assassination of the group’s military chief, Mohammed Deif.

“I came here, to the most important place for the State of Israel, for the people of Israel, to pray for the hostages, that they may return home, but without a reckless deal, without surrender,” Ben Gvir said in a video filmed in front of the Dome of the Rock, the location of the destroyed ancient Jewish temples.

עליתי הבוקר להר הבית כדי להתפלל להשבת החטופות והחטופים הביתה - אבל בלי עסקה מופקרת, אלא באמצעות הגברת הלחץ הצבאי נגד חמאס והמשך כתישתו. pic.twitter.com/JDMnRBYSF6

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) July 18, 2024

“I am praying and also working hard that the Prime Minister will have the strength not to fold and go to victory - to add military pressure, to stop their fuel - to win,” he declared.

Ben Gvir’s visit was sharply criticized by Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, one of the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which recently clashed with Ben Gvir.

“The elders and the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel have already decreed and agreed with all force to erect a fence and sternly warn that no one should dare to enter the territory of the Temple Mount, until Shiloh (the Messiah) comes, and it will be made true for us that ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean’,” Arbel said, quoting from the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 36.

“A day will come and the era of Mr. Ben Gvir’s trolling will pass. The Torah will not be replaced,” Arbel added.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have long held the belief that Jews are forbidden from ascending the Temple Mount due to its sanctity. The National Religious Movement, despite being Orthodox, allows its members to enter certain areas of the mount.

Ben Gvir has repeatedly threatened to leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government coalition if a hostage deal with Hamas were to be signed, calling it a “surrender” to the terror group.

According to a report on Israel's Channel 13, Ben Gvir suggested during a recent Cabinet meeting that a hostage deal should at least be delayed until after the upcoming U.S. elections in November, arguing that an agreement at this time would be “a slap for Trump, which would be a victory for Biden.”

Ben Gvir’s visits to the Temple Mount regularly garner much-outraged coverage in Arabic media. After his visit on Thursday, the Kingdom of Jordan condemned the politician for “violating the sanctity” of the site which Muslims call “Haram al-Sharif,” the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sufyan Qudah said the entire area was a purely Muslim site and that Israel had no sovereignty over Jerusalem or its holy sites.

Ben Gvir’s visit was “a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law and the existing historical and legal situation in Jerusalem,” Qudah added.