Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was notified ahead of time about the visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday of two minister from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party's and did not oppose it, one of the two ministers, Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf said in a radio interview and repeated in a conference on Wednesday.
Wasserlauf said he sent a letter to government secretary Yossi Fuchs two weeks prior to the visit informing him that he intended to visit the site and requested the appropriate security arrangements. A spokesperson for Wasserlauf later sent a copy of the letter to the Post.
The visit created an uproar after Ben-Gvir announced that hi policy was to permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, which is a change to the status quo that has existed at the site for decades. The prime minister's office (PMO) responded by sharply criticizing Ben-Gvir, saying that the "incident at the Temple Mount" was a "violation of the status quo." Wasserlauf, pointed out, however, that his and Ben-Gvir's plans to pray at the site were known in advance and the prime minister could have prevented it advance.
"I’ve been going up for 12 years," Wasserlauf said in an interview on Radio 103FM. "You’re welcome to ask me every year how it was. In my view, there's no more appropriate time than now to ascend and pray for the people of Israel.”
He then added, “I’m tired of us making excuses for why the enemy wants to destroy us. Yesterday, the first to condemn, the ones who issued all the condemnations before the enemies or surrounding countries even responded, were actually Jews. They are afraid of their own shadow.”
After revealing that he coordinated the visit in advance with the prime minister's office, Wasserlauf added, "We don’t ask, we inform. They received the letter, everything was fine, and it was all coordinated with personal security. I can send you the letter if you want."
Netanyahu's office denies prior approval
He also commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction: "I don't know, ask him. He probably won't come for an interview, but I’m telling you what I did. I don’t know how other offices operate: I act in an orderly manner. I think I did something basic that I do every year."
The mandate for setting security policy is subject to decisions made by the national security cabinet, which has already made decisions contrary to the position of the National Security Minister. Ben-Gvir's attempt to set policy was therefore a breach of authority, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.
Additionally, sources in the Prime Minister's office said to Maariv that they are unaware of any prior coordination or approval from the Prime Minister for Ben-Gvir to ascend Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av.
Wasserlauf's comments came amongst unusually fierce criticism of his Temple Mount visit from Israel's two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism. Both parties adhere to halakhic (Jewish legal) rulings that prohibit visitating the Temple Mount due to its purity. They also criticized the fact that the visit could lead to a deterioration in the security situation.
The main headline on Wednesday of the Yated Ne'eman newspaper, associated with the Degel Hatorah faction led by MK Moshe Gafni, was "Temple Mount desecrators endanger Jewish lives," and the article included a call from "rabbis and public figures" to reconsider the coalition partnership with Otzma Yehudit.
In an editorial, the newspaper wrote, "Urgently, padlocks for the Temple Mount." The author, Yisrael Friedman, compared Jewish visits to the Temple Mount to "throwing a match into an oil well," warning that the Temple Mount could become a volcano that would cover the entire Middle East with its ash and smoke.
The article also criticized Ben-Gvir, stating, "Whether he is a minister or not, we cannot allow any fringe figure to endanger us all. This is not a game of 'cops and robbers'; it is about human lives and severe prohibitions."
The newspaper also suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Ben-Gvir could lead to increased bloodshed in the region. Rather than taking definitive action against this "reckless behavior," he only criticized coalition members, particularly Ben-Gvir's group, for such conduct.
The newspaper hinted that the prime minister's relative silence and inaction are problematic. The MKs from Degel Hatorah stated, "We will turn to the Torah sages for their ruling."
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Torah Judaism party, which combines Degel Hatorah and the Hassidic faction Agudat Yisrael, said in a statement that it had discussed the Temple Mount issue in a party meeting. The party argued that Ben-Gvir was a representative of the entire government and did not just speak for himself, and as such was responsible to take into account the position of other government ministers and of halakhic rulings by the chief rabbinate against visiting the site.
The front page of the newspaper Haderech, associated with Shas, ran a sub headline expressing "shock and abhorrence) over Ben-Gvir's "provocative and insolent behavior." Shas spokesperson Asher Medina said in an interview on Channel 12 on Tuesday night that his party would also "reconsider" its coalition partnership with Otzma Yehudit.
A video released later on Wednesday showed various rabbis speaking out against ascending the Temple Mount, with subtitles in Arabic. The subtitles were reportedly added by security officials in order to defuse tensions by showing Muslim viewers that many Jewish rabbis were opposed to the matter.