Israeli Minister’s Visit to the Temple Mount

---

This past January 3rd, Israel’s new Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, paid a brief early morning visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. It should have been non-controversial. But his visit was seized upon by Israel bashers as a violation of the so-called “status quo,” an arrangement that has come to be interpreted as prohibiting Jews and other non-Muslims from praying in any manner anywhere at what the Muslim world calls al-Haram al-Sharif. Even silent prayer is covered by this prohibition. Minister Gvir visited the Temple Mount to pay his respects to its sacred history and, in his new role as Minister of National Security, to likely assess security conditions there. But he did not pray during his short visit to the Temple Mount. Minister Gvir did not set foot in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits at the southern end of the Temple Mount. He did not enter any other Muslim mosque or shrine while on the Temple Mount.