Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Wednesday that the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque has no changed after extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed contradictory remarks.

The Israeli policy “to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” The Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu’s office as saying.

Screen capture of a tweet posted by the account of the Israeli PM (Wednesday, July 24, 2024). The statement comes in response to so-called National Security Minister Ben Gvir’s claim that he prayed at the holy mosque during his provocative visit last week, declaring that he has changed the status quo there.

“I was at the Temple Mount last week.

I prayed at the Temple Mount and we are praying at the Temple Mount.

I am in the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount,” the far-right minister said in a speech at a convention encouraging Jewish visits to the holy site.

Itamar Ben Gvir as he broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque (Thursday, July 18, 2024). In a post on X later, Ben Gvir said that this has been his position for half a year.

“On my watch, there will not be racist discrimination against Jews, who alone are forbidden from praying … in the holiest place for the Jewish people,” he wrote.

Other members of the Israeli governing coalition have publicly panned Ben Gvir for his remarks.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant slammed his call, saying that in the Israeli government, there is “a pyroman who is trying to set the Middle East on fire”.