RAMALLAH, January 4, 2023 – President Mahmoud Abbas stated Tuesday night that he would seek action from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to condemn the incursion by an Israeli far-right minister into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

President Abbas said he has instructed the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations to take immediate steps at the Security Council to stop such incursions and aggressions by Israeli government officials and extremist groups, which aim to illegally alter the character, as well as the historic, religious, and legal status, of the occupied city of East Jerusalem.

He stressed the importance of an international stance to end this grave Israeli escalation against the holy sites in the occupied city, noting that the Palestinian Mission to the UN would coordinate its efforts with Jordan and other friendly countries at the United Nations.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir forced his way into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy police escort — a provocative move expected to inflame tensions.

A video circulated on social media showed Ben-Gvir touring the compound flanked by Israeli security forces. This was not his first such intrusion. In May last year, accompanied by his wife and son, Ben-Gvir posted a photo calling for the destruction of the mosque compound to “establish a synagogue on the mountain.”

Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem following the 1967 war, Jewish prayer at the Al-Aqsa compound has been forbidden. However, far-right settlers such as Ben-Gvir — some of whom advocate for demolishing the mosque to build a so-called “Third Temple” — have frequently entered and prayed at the site under heavy security in recent years.

When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a similar visit to the compound in 2000, it sparked the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, is considered the third holiest site in Islam. It is located in occupied East Jerusalem, part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories seized by Israel in 1967.