UNSC chairs meet on Israeli far-right minister’s Al Aqsa visit

United Nations, January 5

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The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of the Palestinians and other Islamic and non-Islamic nations to protest the visit of an ultranationalist Israeli minister to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site and demand an end to Israeli extremist provocations and respect for the historic status quo at the site revered by Muslims and Jews.

Tuesday’s visit by Israel’s new national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif drew fierce condemnation from across the Muslim world, a strong rebuke from the United States, and fuelled fears of unrest as Palestinian militant groups threatened to act in response.

‘Aggression against muslims, christians’

• Israel’s new national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Jerusalem holy site has drawn fierce condemnation
• The Muslim world, the United States strongly rebuked the visit which fuelled fears of unrest as Palestinian groups threatened to act in response
• Riyad Mansour, Palestinian UN ambassador, accused Israel of committing “aggression” against Muslim and Christian holy sites
• Jordan’s UN Ambassador said his country was “extremely concerned at the incursion” by the Israeli government

The Palestinian UN ambassador, Riyad Mansour, told reporters on Wednesday after meetings with Arab ambassadors, representatives of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the 120-member Non-aligned Movement and others that there is not only widespread condemnation of Ben-Gvir’s visit but also of the broader “environment of extremism” surrounding the most extremist government in Israel’s history. He accused Israel of committing “aggression” not only against Muslim holy sites, including the Al Aqsa Mosque, but against Christian sites including graveyards.

Describing the Temple Mount as “the most important place for the Jewish people,” Ben-Gvir decried what he called “racist discrimination” against Jewish visits to the site.

With the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine, in the background and waving his fingers at the camera, he said the visits would continue.

Mansour said that at Thursday’s meeting, also supported by the United Arab Emirates, China, France and Malta, “we will not be satisfied with beautiful statements which will be uttered. We want them to be implemented in a concrete way.”

Jordan’s UN Ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud said his country, whose ruler King Abdullah II is custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites, was “extremely concerned at the incursion” by the Israeli government.

Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office for his sixth term as Prime Minister, leading the most religious, right-wing government in the country’s history. — AP