Netanyahu and a new dreadful reality for Jerusalem

JVL Introduction

Agreements over the Al Aqsa Mosque are often being broken by Israel. The spark that started the second Intifada was Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.  Itamar Ben-Gvir who is a West Bank settler as well as the minister of security in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has visited the site frequently even though doing so breaks long standing agreements that permit only Muslims to worship there. Ben-Gvir recently “joined a group of more than 2,000 Jewish extremists to storm al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site”.

We might question the term “extremists” since not only is Ben Gvir a senior government minister but it is clear that Netanyahu has no problem with such actions and has publicly backed Jewish prayer at the site. Perhaps he is trying to consolidate as much as possible before the elections in October this year. It is clearly part of the broader commitment to judaise Jerusalem.

This article was originally published by The Guardian on Mon 10 Aug 2026. Read the original here.