Washington: Agencies
The US State Department announced its strong opposition to the statements of the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding the construction of a Jewish temple in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told Axios that "Ben-Gvir's irresponsible statements and actions only serve to sow chaos and increase tensions at a time when Israel must unite in the face of the threat posed by Iran and its allies in the form of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah."
According to Miller, the United States "strongly opposes" this because it would be "a blatant disregard for the historical status quo regarding the holy sites in Jerusalem," and called on the Israeli authorities not to abandon these principles and to adhere to them. According to what was reported by the Youm7 news website in Cairo,
Last Monday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he would build a synagogue in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, "based on equal rights between Jews and Muslims," ​​while Netanyahu's office was quick to clarify that "there is no change to the status quo."
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel called on the prime minister to put Ben-Gvir in his place, warning that "Ben-Gvir's irresponsible words are putting to the test Israel's strategic alliances with Muslim countries that form an alliance in the war against the Iranian axis of evil."

Ben-Gvir has long called for freedom of worship for Jews at Al-Aqsa. In early August, he led a group of Jewish extremists to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to mark the Jewish religious holiday of "Destruction of the Temple," and declared from there that "the policy is to allow prayer."

A short time later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed this statement, declaring that "there is no special policy for any minister on the (Temple Mount) Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that Israel's policy regarding the Temple Mount has not changed."

Israeli security officials had previously warned, according to "Ynet", that such a policy could ignite a "religious war" in the Middle East, or lead to a major escalation in the security situation in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.