King Abdullah II of Jordan said in an interview with CNN last week that he was prepared to get “into a conflict” if Israel tried to change the status of the Jerusalem holy site. After Mr. Ben-Gvir’s visit, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it would “follow it up at all levels,” in coordination with Jordan.
On Tuesday, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned Mr. Ben-Gvir’s actions, saying that the visit, together with Israel’s repeated incursions in the occupied West Bank, were a harbinger of “further escalation and represent a dangerous trend that the international community must work to stop immediately.”
The United Arab Emirates condemned Mr. Ben-Gvir’s visit, as did Saudi Arabia, a major player in the Muslim world. Mr. Netanyahu has set establishing open diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia as a goal for his new government. Egypt warned of the “negative repercussions of such measures on security and stability” and Morocco said it was following the event closely.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying that the prime minister was “committed to the strict preservation, with no change, of the status quo on Temple Mount.” But it also added: “We will not capitulate to the dictates of Hamas.”
Mr. Ben-Gvir, who has a history of provocative actions and has been convicted in the past of incitement to racism and support for a terrorist group, had made no secret of his intention to visit the site as a minister. “Temple Mount is important, and as I said, I intend to ascend the mount,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday, the day he took office.
But the timing of the visit was intentionally obscured, presumably to prevent Palestinian protesters from gathering at the site to confront him.
The Israeli news media reported that Mr. Ben-Gvir might be intending to tour the site on Tuesday, a fast day in the Jewish calendar that is traditionally marked with pilgrimages to Jerusalem. On Monday evening, Mr. Netanyahu met with Mr. Ben-Gvir to discuss the issue, after which the Israeli news media reported that Mr. Ben-Gvir had decided to postpone his visit to some undetermined time in the coming weeks.
