JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Wednesday that there has been no change in the prayer arrangements at a contentious holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City, contradicting a statement by a far-right minister in his coalition who claimed there was a policy shift.
The site, located within the walled Old City, is known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, and to Jews as the Temple Mount, a site of two ancient Jewish temples. The location is a central point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to a long-standing “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel permits Jews to visit the site on the condition that they refrain from performing religious rites.
“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” Netanyahu’s office asserted in a statement. Netanyahu is currently in Washington, where he is scheduled to address Congress. Any alteration in Israeli policy regarding the site could potentially cause significant political friction.
Earlier in the day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that Israel’s political leadership, of which he is a part, “allows Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.” Ben-Gvir leads a far-right party and is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu has frequently overridden Ben-Gvir’s hardline policy proposals and has excluded him from critical decision-making forums during the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.