The Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the African Union Commission issued a joint statement April 9 warning that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s “storming” of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, accompanied by a heavy Israeli military escort, risked inflaming Muslim sentiment across the world, Al Ahram reported. Together, the three organizations represent some 75 of the world’s nations, including all predominantly-Muslim nations.
On April 6, Ben-Gvir had “stormed the Al-Aqsa compound through the Al-Maghariba Gate under heavy police protection and strict security measures, including restrictions on Palestinian movement and limited access for worshippers… while the Israeli authorities had kept the mosque closed to Palestinian worshippers for 40 days,” the Egyptian daily reported.
This act constituted “a blatant attack on the sanctity of Al-Aqsa” and a violation of international resolutions and conventions, the joint statement charged. It pointed out that the continued closure of one of the holiest of Muslim mosques is part of a broader pattern of the escalating violations by Israeli authorities against Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, which poses “a serious threat to regional and international peace and stability.” The statement suggests it behooves the international community, and the UN Security Council in particular, “to compel Israeli authorities to respect freedom of worship and lift all restrictions on Palestinian access to the site.”
On March 29, Israeli police —which Ben Gvir controls— had prevented Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, in order to celebrate Palm Sunday.
Today, Friday, with the ceasefire still in place despite the efforts of the Netanyahu government to sink it by its bloodiest attack yet on Lebanon, when the Al Aqsa mosque was finally opened again for Muslims, 100,000 worshippers came to pray.