Arab-Israeli and left-wing members of Knesset continued to criticize on Monday the government’s intent to limit visitation rights on the Temple Mount during the month of Ramadan to both Palestinians from the West Bank and Muslim Israeli citizens.
A forum of ministers led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir decided on Sunday to limit visitation for Palestinians from the West Bank to those above the age of 60 or below the age of 10 and to “examine” limitations on Muslims who are either residents or full citizens of Israel. KAN News’ Suleiman Maswadeh reported on Monday morning that the government was examining the option to limit the latter to age 40 and above, at least for the first week of the month-long holiday, which begins on March 10. A spokesperson for Ben-Gvir did not respond to a query if this was correct.
Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, all of whose members were at Sunday’s meeting regarding the Temple Mount, explained on Sunday evening that the government decided to enable freedom of religion as much as possible and that the reasons to limit visitation to the site were purely security-related.
Collective punishment
However, Israeli-Arab and left-wing politicians viewed the decision as an attempt by Ben-Gvir to collectively punish Muslims and even to cause further chaos to enable Israel to use more force against the West Bank and Israeli Palestinians.
Hadash-Ta’al faction leader, MK Ahmad Tibi, said in a press conference ahead of his party’s weekly meeting on Monday that the decision was “dangerous and at a very sensitive spot – al-Aqsa Mosque.”
“There is no freedom of worship for Muslims… Ben-Gvir is a pyromaniac, and above him, there is a person responsible for giving him a jerry can of fuel – Netanyahu,” Tibi added. He blamed Gantz as well for the decision and concluded that “Muslims deserve free access to al-Aqsa Mosque, all year and especially during the holy month of Ramadan. Every other decision is illegitimate by definition.”
Labor chairwoman MK Merav Michaeli also criticized the decision, saying in her weekly press conference on Monday that “at the beginning of the war, Ben-Gvir promised that we were facing [riots similar to] Operation Guardian of the Walls II. But what happened? The Arab citizens of Israel did not play ball – many, many of them condemned the horror perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 – so Ben-Gvir is doing everything to make it happen himself.”
“Ben-Gvir and Hamas have the same interest. Both want a religious war. Both want to create a conflagration because each of them believes that that is the way to get rid of and eliminate the other side,” Michaeli added.
Ben-Gvir laid out his policy in a statement to the press ahead of his party’s weekly meeting on Monday. The national security minister argued that “the voices that supported opening the [Temple] Mount to all of Israel’s Arabs are the same voices that said that Hamas was deterred [prior to the October 7 massacre].”
“It is true, not all of Israel’s Arabs support Hamas; there are many who want to make a living, work, and live here in dignity, but there are those among them who support Hamas, there are those among them who hate Jews,” Ben-Gvir said.
He added that he “pinched himself” when he heard the attorney-general say that blocking visitation rights to entire population groups had legal difficulties since, for “dozens of years, Jews were limited in visiting the site.”
Fellow Otzma Yehudit Party member Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, which will be published in full on Tuesday, that there was a broader reason to limit Muslim visitation during Ramadan: to stand up for Jews and show “who the owner is.” When Jews show weakness, they are attacked all over the world. Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora should no longer bow to pressure, and Temple Mount visitation is an example where Israel should not stand down, Eliyahu said.
“This is at the heart of Hamas’s campaign – which they are calling the ‘Flood of al-Aqsa’ – and we will not let them turn the place that is the most holy for Jews… to a place where for a month Jews run away,” Eliyahu added. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest place for Muslims.