JERUSLAEM (JNS/AP) – During a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that despite Hamas threats, Israel remains sovereign of the holy site.
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“I’m happy to go up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the people of Israel,” the Otzma Yehudit Party head said in a statement. “It should be said that the police are doing a wonderful job here and once again prove who owns the [the Temple Mount] in Jerusalem. All the threats from Hamas will not help, we are the owners of Jerusalem and the whole Land of Israel,” he continued.
השר לביטחון לאומי איתמר בן גביר עלה הבוקר להר הבית: "אנחנו בעלי הבית כאן ובתקציב הקרוב אני מקווה שגם הנגב והגליל יהיה על ראש שמחתנו". pic.twitter.com/RKwV2Vsiug
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) May 21, 2023
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvir’s visit a “blatant attack” on the mosque. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it “a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation.” Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation.
Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum, head of the Temple Mount Administration, said Ben-Gvir’s visit “gives meaning to the slogan ‘The Temple Mount is in our hands’ which recently turned 56 years old.” Elbaum was referring to the message broadcast from Israel Defense Forces commander Mordechai Gur after his brigade liberated the Old City from the Jordanians in 1967.
Around 1,200 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Thursday ahead of Jerusalem Day, which began on Thursday evening. The annual flag march through the Old City and other festivities associated with the holiday, which marks the reunification of Israel’s capital during the 1967 Six-Day War, were also held on Thursday so as not to run up against the start of Shabbat.
Among those who visited the site on Thursday were several Knesset members, including Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee Minister Yitzhak Shimon Wasserlauf of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party.
In his statement on Sunday, Ben-Gvir also addressed the Knesset vote on Wednesday boycotted by his party in protest against budget cuts to programs for the Galilee and the Negev
“We must remember our brothers in the Negev and the Galilee. In the upcoming budget we must invest in the Negev and the Galilee. Jerusalem is our soul, the Negev and the Galilee is our soul, we must invest, we must act there, we must be the owners of the Negev, also of the Galilee, and the basis is the budget,” he said.
What “Dream world ” is this guy in !!!!
Any of you stand on your front lawn this morning and announce that you own your house?
Strutting about with a smirk on his face and a brace of gorillas to protect him… That’ll teach ’em!
I’m pretty right wing but this is just an obvious looking for a fight.
The official excuse for potentially violating a issur kares r’l and going on the har habayis used to be that you want pray in such a holy place.
Now it’s pretty much straight out “I’m going there because I’m looking for a turf war fight.”
May Ben Gvir do teshuva shleima.
(Note much as I vehemently opposes Ben Gvir’s behavior I don’t mean to side with the Arab view in the slightest. I don’t give a hoot if a non-Jew wants to pray at the kosel or go right up to it. The Arab should have no issue walking on the kosel either. While he doesn’t have to be a jerk about it if the Arabs didn’t claim to have an issue this whole issue would not exist. )
Kudos to Ben Gvir standing up for Hashem, Torah, Eretz Yisroel and Am Yisroel. We are commanded to be the sovereign owners of this place, its an actual mitzvah feel free to learn the Ramban if you need and only then show your knowledge in commenting. Let the world know that the Jews have returned home and whoever doesn’t like this fact can eat their hat. We are never commanted to shrivel in fear, but to stand up for Ratzon Hashem and BG does a pretty fine job at it. Thank You!
Zionist buffoonery. The Zionists were the ones who begged Jordan to retain control over the Temple Mount.
Regardless, the Zionist invasion of the holy land, and the idol that they made, will eventually be history.
Ben-Gvir,
We are not the owners of Jerusalem and Israel.
Eretz Yisroel was given to Jews by the almighty with very strict conditions. As we say daily two times in Kriyas Shema.
Unfortunately we did not obey the conditions and Hashem took it away and sent us into Golus.As we say every Yom Tov Umip’Nei Chatoeinu Golini Meartzinie.
We have no claim to the Arabs or the nations of the world that “it is ours”.
The only claim and prayer is to Hashem to return Eretz Yisroel to us loyal Torah Jews through Moshicah.
What deal did the dayan make with Jordan?
Cool. Now all he has todo is tell the people who live there. I bet that will go well.