Saudi Arabia strongly condemned a visit on Wednesday by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
The Kingdom “reiterates its denunciation of the continued blatant Israeli attacks on the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ben-Gvir was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Ben Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.
The Saudi foreign ministry also condemned an Israeli attack on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza’s civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children.
“The Kingdom condemns these ongoing Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and calls upon the international community to put an end to the Israeli war machine, which does not respect any humanitarian values, laws, or international norms.”
Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.
The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.
In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.
