Israeli Politicsupdated 52m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 24 March 2013Itamar Ben-Gvir Storms Al-Aqsa Mosque With Police Protection Ahead Of Israeli Elections
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Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards under heavy police protection before elections. He was accompanied by Knesset member Moshe Feiglin during the raid.
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Ben-Gvir at Al-Aqsa
Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday ahead of the general Israeli elections scheduled for Tuesday, and the Jerusalem Governorate said he was accompanied by Knesset member Moshe Feiglin under heavy police protection. Ben-Gvir published a photo of himself performing religious rites at the Western Wall and commented, "At the Western Wall, supplicating for the victory of the right and the safety of the people of Israel."
“Ben-Gvir stormed al-Aqsa Mosque today, Monday, ahead of the general Israeli elections scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday.”
Channel 7 showed Ben-Gvir surrounded by police and special units during his raid of the mosque courtyards, and the raid came without him announcing it in advance as he had done with many previous incursions since taking office at the end of 2022. Palestinian movements accused Ben-Gvir of exploiting measures against Palestinians, their properties, and their sanctities for electoral propaganda and for intimidating Palestinian voters in Israel before the general election scheduled for Tuesday.
Egypt condemns, warns
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s storming of al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, saying the step constituted a "flagrant violation of the sanctities." Egypt warned of the "danger of continuing these violations that fuel tensions and threaten stability in the region," and it rejected any attempts to change the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque or to partition it temporally or spatially.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Ben-Gvir’s storming was accompanied by hundreds of settlers under Israeli police protection, and it called on the international community to bear its responsibilities to stop these practices. Palestinian officials said the radical right-wing Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu used Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque for electoral propaganda by escalating settlement activity, home demolitions, tightening restrictions on residents, and intensifying attempts to alter the status quo at the mosque.
Elections and the status quo
The raid came amid Palestinian party accusations that Ben-Gvir exploited violations against Palestinians, their property, and their sacred sites for electoral propaganda and to intimidate Palestinian voters in Israel before the general election scheduled for Tuesday. The Jerusalem Governorate said Ben-Gvir entered the mosque compound accompanied by Moshe Feiglin, and Ben-Gvir previously stormed Al-Aqsa on September 28 accompanied by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Ben-Gvir’s statements during the latest incursion included saying, "they are the sovereigns today in al-Aqsa," while the Jerusalem Affairs Department said his statements reflected a move to impose new facts on the ground inside the mosque. The sources also tied the episode to fears of changing the mosque’s longstanding historical and legal status quo, with the Jordanian Foreign Ministry warning of attempts to alter the site’s historical and legal status and impose a temporal and spatial division within it.