JERUSALEM, 11 January. - (ANA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that allowing Jewish prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem "does not breach" the decades-long status quo at the compound, which prioritises Muslim worship, as he backs National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in changing such.

 

On Sunday, the Israeli premier said that the adjustments far-right minister Ben-Gvir is making "are not changing" the long-standing status quo, and that any policy is carried out in coordination with him, while his word is final, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said.

 

His comments came after Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon warned that Ben-Gvir was unilaterally altering the religious status quo at the site with his provocative attempts.

 

The status quo at Al-Aqsa stipulates that only Muslim prayer is allowed. Non-Muslims can visit the site, but are not allowed to pray there, with the policy dating back to the Ottoman period.

 

Al-Aqsa is administered by the Jordanian Waqf administration, though the Israeli army exercises security control and access to the site, which leads to the status quo’s scales often being tipped in favour of Israelis. Constant challenges by Israelis to the status quo have raised fears that Tel Aviv is seeking to impose sovereignty over the holy site and erode its Muslim character.

 

Israel’s actions at Al-Aqsa come amid a wider attempt to annex the West Bank, occupied since 1967, and depopulate it of its Palestinian population.

 

Attempts to conduct Jewish prayers have increased significantly in recent years, under police protection. Ben-Gvir, who has a track record of incitement against Palestinians, has repeatedly insisted that Jewish prayer must be allowed at Al-Aqsa, and himself has prayed there.

 

Ben-Gvir and other extremist Israelis have frequently raided the Muslim compound over the years in provocative acts against Palestinians.

 

Israeli police have also permitted Jewish prayers to be performed in the past two years, particularly in the compound’s eastern sector, with no consequences. Public Torah lesson and signing of the Israeli national anthem have been among the activities allowed under Israeli police protection.

 

In 2024, Ben-Gvir claimed that a new policy had been implemented at Al-Aqsa that would permit Jewish prayer, at the Muslim site, considered the third holiest in Islam.

 

"Elected officials means me, and this elected official allows Jewish prayer in the Temple Mount," he said. Netanyahu then defied his statement, and said the policy towards Al-Aqsa, referred to by Israelis as Temple Mount, "would not change".

 

In 2025, Ben-Gvir, accompanied by 1,250 settlers, conducted religious rituals, raised flags, and sang to rebuild the 'Third Temple' on the occasion of the Tisha B'Av Jewish holiday. It was his fourth incursion at the holy site since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

 

Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Otzuma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, has frequently incited violence against Palestinians and has been convicted for it. Amid the war in Gaza, the far-right minister has encouraged the killing of Palestinians, their forced exile from the enclave, as well as its resettlement by Israeli Jews.   - (ANA) - 

 

AB/ANA/11 January 2026 - - -