Why Israel Was Right to Allow a Jewish Politician to Visit the Temple Mount

Yesterday morning, Israel’s newly appointed—and highly controversial—national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made a short visit to the Temple Mount, during a time it is regularly open to Jews. (Muslims generally have complete access to the area, while Israeli authorities sharply limit the entry of Jews.) Ben-Gvir’s visit was preceded by threats of violence from Hamas, as well as warnings from inside and outside the Jewish state that it could provoke unrest and other dire consequences. Although the politician’s thirteen-minute walk around the Mount was condemned by Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, it proved uneventful. Yaakov Katz, writing before the visit, argues that, whatever one thinks of Ben-Gvir’s politics, he should be allowed onto Judaism’s holiest site: