UN Security Council Meets on Ben-Gvir Temple Mount Visit

The United Nations Security Council held a special session Thursday to discuss the visit by Israel’s new, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the flashpoint Temple Mount site in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning.

The visit, which came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new government was sworn in, drew widespread international condemnation and warnings of a response from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The special session was requested by the United Arab Emirates and China, on behalf of the Palestinian and Jordanian missions to the UN.

Jordan oversees the management of the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque, The arrangement has been in place since Israel captured the site during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site, which is holy in both Judaism and Islam, but are not permitted to pray there.

Despite not violating any of the regulations in place, the visit by Ben-Gvir – who has previously made hostile comments about Muslims and Arabs – was seen as a provocation.