The UAE and China have called a meeting of the UN Security Council in reaction to Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in a widely criticised incident.
The Council is due to convene on Thursday, according to diplomats who spoke to Reuters late on Tuesday.
Ben-acts Gvir’s drew harsh criticism from throughout the world, with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates joining the Palestinians in their condemnation. The Palestinian Authority called the incursion a “unprecedented aggression.”
According to the Palestinian foreign ministry, the hardline minister Ben-invasion Gvir’s assault of the Al-Aqsa Mosque was “seriously denounced” and was considered as “an unprecedented provocation and a hazardous escalation of the war.”
The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, accused Ben-Gvir of arranging the visit in order to transform the site “into a Jewish temple,” a goal supported by many in Israel’s extreme right.
According to Hamas, the organisation in charge of the embattled Gaza Strip, Ben-action, Gvir’s, has exceeded a “red line.” According to the Israeli military, the rocket fired from Gaza on Tuesday night landed in Palestinian territory.
In a statement late on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that he was “committed to firmly preserve the status quo, without modifications, on the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Mosque compound]”.
Although sources close to Netanyahu denied any connection to the Al-Aqsa incident, Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Netanyahu’s planned trip to the United Arab Emirates the following week had been pushed back until February.
Yair Lapid, former Israeli prime minister and opposition leader, said on Monday that Ben-intended Gvir’s presence into the facility would ignite rioting and be a “planned provocation that would jeopardise lives.”
The US, Israel’s closest ally, expressed grave concern over the incident.
“We’re deeply concerned about any unilateral moves that have the potential to raise tensions precisely because we want to see the opposite happen,” said Ned Price, a spokeswoman for the Department of State.
The United States strongly supports the preservation of the historic status quo with relation to the holy sites in Jerusalem.
He went on to say that any unilateral moves undermining the status quo were “unacceptable.”
The Al-Aqsa Mosque complex is revered to both Muslims and Jews. It is referred to as the Temple Mount by Jews.
Jews, on the other hand, have long believed that the place is too precious to be harmed. On Tuesday, Israel’s foremost Sephardi rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, chastised Ben-Gvir for entering Al-Aqsa.
What would people say if they saw a minister who is a devout Jew but disregards the rabbinate’s authority? He reflected.
The complex, also known as al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, is a vast, walled plaza in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem that houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Muslims have regularly managed the property as part of a waqf for hundreds of years (religious endowment).
The Jordanian-funded waqf has overseen the site since 1967, but Israel maintains security control. The present condition of the site, according to a long-standing agreement, only permits Muslims to pray there, while non-Muslim visitors are only permitted during specific hours.
During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Aal-Aqsa Mosque. In 1980, it annexed the whole city in a move that was never recognised by the international world.
