By James Mackenzie
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound known to Jews as Temple Mount, and said Jews should be allowed to pray there, freshly challenging rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules prohibiting Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to Muslims as well. He also issued a rebuke to Ben-Gvir, head of one of the nationalist religious parties in the ruling coalition.
"There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount - neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement blasting Ben-Gvir's visit to the site.
The row with Ben-Gvir was the second time this week that Netanyahu has clashed with one of his senior ministers, following a sharp reprimand issued to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday over the aims of the Gaza war.
Ben-Gvir's remarks, during a visit to the complex to mark the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the ancient temples, come at an especially sensitive time, with the war in Gaza at risk of escalating into a wider conflict, potentially drawing in Iran and its regional proxies.
The Al-Aqsa compound, revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples, is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and under rules dating back decades, Jews are allowed to visit, but may not pray there.
"Our policy is to allow prayer," Ben-Gvir said as he passed a line of Jewish visitors who prostrated themselves on the ground, while others sang and clapped their hands in celebration. The Waqf, the foundation that administers the site, said around 2,250 Jews entered the site on Tuesday.
The spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Ben-Gvir's visit as a "provocation" and called on the U.S. to intervene "if it wants to prevent the region from exploding in an uncontrollable manner".
Blinken said Washington strongly opposed Ben-Gvir's visit, which he said "demonstrated blatant disregard for the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem."
"These provocative actions only exacerbate tensions at a pivotal moment when all focus should be on the ongoing diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and secure the release of all hostages and create the conditions for broader regional stability," Blinken said, calling on the Israeli government to prevent similar incidents going forward.
Ben-Gvir has clashed repeatedly with other ministers over his calls to allow prayer at the compound, which has helped trigger repeated conflicts with the Palestinians over the years, including a 10-day war with Hamas in 2021.
Moshe Gafni, head of United Torah Judaism, one of the religious parties in the government, criticized Ben-Gvir's visit to the compound, which many Orthodox Jews believe is too sacred a place for Jews to enter.
"The damage it causes to the Jewish people is unbearable, and it also causes unfounded hatred on the day of the destruction of the Temple," he said in a statement.
GOVERNMENT DIVISIONS
The row with Ben-Gvir was the latest in a long series that have laid bare the divisions that have been a feature of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition since its formation at the end of 2022.
With opinion polls indicating that new elections would see the defeat of both Netanyahu's Likud party and the nationalist-religious bloc headed by Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the coalition has so far held together for much longer than many previous governments. But none of the ministers make even a pretence of cabinet unity.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have clashed repeatedly with Gallant over issues ranging from the conduct of the war in Gaza to policy regarding the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moves to curb the power of the courts.
For his part, Gallant has been determined to remain in government to act as a counterweight to the nationalist religious bloc and Netanyahu with whom he has openly disagreed on multiple occasions.
On Monday, Netanyahu's office reprimanded Gallant after the minister was quoted in the Israeli press dismissing as "nonsense" Netanyahu's often repeated aim of "total victory" in the war with the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, now in its 11th month.
Last year, Netanyahu tried to sack Gallant over his opposition to plans to curb the power of the Supreme Court, only to have to reverse course in the face of mass protests by hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir repeated his call for final victory in Gaza, saying the aim of the war should be to defeat Hamas, and "bring them to their knees".
Benny Gantz, a centrist former general who joined Netanyahu's government shortly after the start of the Gaza war as a gesture of unity before quitting earlier this year, said Ben-Gvir had defied the prime minister and endangered the state and should be stripped of his official powers.
"You don't trust your partner and they don't trust you," he said in a statement.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and David Gregorio)
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