The United Nations Security Council convened on Thursday for an emergency session over National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount earlier this week, which Israel condemned as “pathetic.”
Ben-Gvir, a controversial far-right lawmaker in Israel's government, visited the holy site in Jerusalem on Tuesday, sparking backlash and widespread criticism of what many called a "provocative" move. The Temple Mount is where Israel's First and Second Temples stood and is the holiest site in Judaism. It is also the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
After his ascent, the Security Council said it will hold an emergency session to discuss the first visit by an Israeli government minister to the Temple Mount in five years. While government ministers have come to the holy place in the past, it remains a flash point for escalations between Palestinians and Israelis.
Ahead of the meeting, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan said in a press briefing that he was “truly shocked.”
“There is absolutely no reason that this emergency session should be held. To hold it on a non-event is truly absurd,” he said. “Why are we holding an emergency session for something as simple as a Jew walking to the holiest site in Judaism?”
Erdan further pointed to events going on elsewhere in the world which he suggested the council was not responding to nor holding emergency sessions for, urging there was a double standard when it comes to the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya at the UNSC session compared Ben-Gvir’s visit to that of Ariel Sharon in 2000 which helped spark the Second Intifada. He called on “both sides to show restraint and avoid unilateral provocations.”
China also piled criticism on the hardline Israeli rightist and his antics, saying Beijing was worried about rising tensions following the visit.