The United States slammed as “unacceptable” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount on Thursday, to mark the annual Tisha Be’av fast.“We reaffirm our long-standing US position in support of the historic status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.“Any unilateral action or rhetoric that deviates or jeopardizes the status quo is completely unacceptable,” Patel emphasized.The US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a similar statement and US Ambassador Robert Wood echoed his country’s displeasure in a speech he delivered to the United Nations Security Council.“This holy place should not be used for political purposes. We call on all parties to respect its sanctity,” he said.
No matter what one thinks of Ben Gvir, what is unacceptable is for the US to say that some Jews have a very limited right to visit their holiest spot, which is bad enough, and then to make it worse by saying that some Jews should have no rights to visit it at all.
From a Jewish perspective, it is the Muslims who visit the Dome of the Rock and the areas around it who are desecrating the holy spot. Every single day.
Jewish sensitivities towards the most sacred spot in Judaism are meaningless to the State Department.
But for some reason, Muslim sensitivities to make the entire area Judenrein is not something to be condemned by the US government..
Even when they give antisemitic speeches there.
Even when they wave Hamas flags.
Even when they stockpile projectiles and fireworks.
When those things happen, the State Department never issues sanctimonious statements urging Muslims to "respect its sanctity."
Anything and everything that Muslims do on the Temple Mount is somehow part of the mythical "status quo" while anything Jews do is a threat and a potential powder keg.
There is something very wrong here.
Ben Gvir did nothing provocative and said nothing that is offensive, certainly when compared to the Jew-hatred being spouted regularly on Al Aqsa. But the State Department feels that they can attack him without repercussions from the Jewish community, because he is so reviled by so many.
What Jews need to realize is that this attack on him was couched in terms of an attack on all Jews who want to assert historic rights to our most sacred place, and that is what is "completely unacceptable."
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