JERUSALEM: Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, reportedly paid a controversial visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem, according to the police.
“This morning, Minister Ben-Gvir paid a visit to the Temple Mount,” the police said, using the Jewish name for the sacred location in the centre of the Old City. Police said in a statement that there had been no incident during the visit, according to Reuters.
Ben-Gvir stated in a Telegram post he took while at the compound: “Jerusalem is our soul.”
He said, “The threats of Hamas will not deter us, I went up to the Temple Mount!”
Ben-Gvir had previously visited the monument in January but had been chastised by the militant Hamas that controls Gaza.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest location in Islam. Non-Muslims are welcome to visit but are not allowed to do prayers there.
Jews who pray at the Western Wall below the property consider it to be their most sacred place.
Ben-Gvir’s visit comes three days after he and tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Old City to celebrate its capture in the 1967 Six-Day War.
