Riyadh/Occupied Jerusalem/Ramallah: King Salman of Saudi Arabia led the all-round condemnation that erupted after Israel’s far-right Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, entered the Al Aqsa Compound in Occupied Jerusalem Tuesday.
In a statement issued few hourd before King Salman condemned the “provocative actions” by the ultra-nationalist Israeli cabinet minister who entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques condemnation of the provocative practices carried out by an Israeli official, who stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.” the Kingdom's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is the title King Salman and other Saudi kings use for them.
The ministry also expressed Saudi Arabia’s regret for the practices of the Israeli occupation authorities that undermine international peace efforts and contradict international principles and norms in respect of religious sanctities.
Condemning Ben-Gvir’s uncalled for visit to Al Aqsa Compound, Ofer Cassif, an Israeli politician and a member of the Israeli Parliament, Knesset, said:
“Ben Gvir will not stop. He wants rivers of blood. That's Netanyahu's government - inciting violence in order to promote its racist messianic hallucinations.”
“The international community must stop Ben Gvir's thugs from igniting the middle east and the world by penetrating Al-Aqsa mosque”, he added.
The Knesset Member, Dvora Biton, also asked Ben Gvir about the reason of his insisting on invading Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a representative body of 57 Muslim countries, while condemning the latest development said the visit is “part of Israel’s attempts to change the existing historical and legal status of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The OIC further said it considered the act “a provocation to the feelings of all Muslims and a flagrant violation relevant international resolutions.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh cast the visit as a bid to turn the mosque complex “into a Jewish temple.”
Addressing his cabinet, Shtayyeh also called on Palestinians to “confront the raids into Al Aqsa mosque.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict.”
Jordan said on Tuesday it also condemned in the “severest” terms a visit by Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
“Jordan condemns in the severest of terms the storming of the Aqsa mosque and violating its sanctity,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Adding that the visit violated international law and “the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem.”
The UAE condemned what it said was an Israeli minister's “storming” of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, state news agency WAM reported. Kuwait and Egypt have also issued similar statements.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson said any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites is unacceptable.
“The United States stands firmly for preservation of the status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem. Any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable,” the spokesperson said, adding the United States calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to preserve his commitment to the status quo of holy sites.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera that Ben-Gvir’s move “is a continuation of the Zionist occupation’s aggression against our sanctities and its war on its Arab identity.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque was and will remain Palestinian, Arab and Islamic property, and no fascist force or person can change this fact,” he said.
“Any escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque will explode the situation and the occupation government will be responsible for this,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement published on Monday.
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