Jordan, Qatar condemn Israeli minister’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque

ISTANBUL 

Jordan and Qatar condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday, calling it a dangerous provocation and a blatant violation of international law and the status quo governing Jerusalem’s holy sites.

Ben-Gvir stormed Islam’s third-holiest site to mark Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, triggering a wave of condemnations.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry denounced his intrusion as a “flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo (of Al-Aqsa Mosque) and of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”

The ministry’s statement stressed that such intrusions will not “alter the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city over which Israel holds no sovereignty.”

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs echoed the condemnation, describing the move in a statement as part of “ongoing Israeli attempts to alter the religious and historical status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque” and called it “a provocation to more than two billion Muslims worldwide.”

The ministry warned that “Israel’s escalation policy in the occupied Palestinian territories—including the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza—will inevitably widen the circle of violence and chaos across the region and undermine efforts to implement a two-state solution and achieve a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace.”

The extremist minister was joined by other Israeli officials including Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kroizer.

Monday’s intrusion was the seventh by the far-right minister into the Al-Aqsa complex since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in 2022.

At least 2,092 illegal Israeli settlers forced their way into the mosque complex since early morning under police protection to mark the occupation of East Jerusalem, with many performing provocative rituals in the mosque’s courtyards, the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem said in a statement.

More than 665 settlers entered the mosque compound in the afternoon following the midday prayer, the statement added.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures limiting Palestinians’ access from the occupied West Bank into East Jerusalem.

Palestinians consider these restrictions as part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity.

Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers into the flashpoint compound on an almost daily basis with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

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