Ariel Sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 2000 ended quietly, and his entourage looked at the Shin Bet and police officers who warned of an explosion and considered them cowards.

Confrontations broke out the next day, and tens of thousands who attended Friday prayers clashed with the police, and violence broke out. Waves of confrontations quickly spread to the West Bank, and within days “Israel” descended into the Second Intifada, which is the bloodiest conflict between “Israel” and the Palestinians, which It claimed thousands of lives.

Uri Ariel's visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque on New Year's Eve in 2015 ended without special events, but that evening, clashes broke out in East Jerusalem and the “Knives Intifada” began, during which Palestinians carried out dozens of stabbing and trampling operations in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The maximum red line

In the past 100 years, the Palestinians have proven countless times that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line. From the Palestinian point of view, the entire Al-Aqsa Mosque complex is Al-Aqsa Mosque and therefore not a place for Jewish religious worship, but it is much more than that, it is a national, religious and political symbol first and foremost. Any change in it is seen as a personal and national humiliation that requires a response.

Visits by senior “Israeli officials” to Al-Aqsa Mosque by Palestinians and the entire Arab world are considered a violation of the exclusivity enjoyed by the Waqf in managing the place.

Stress factors

“Ben Gvir took full advantage of his privileges to provoke provocations in East Jerusalem,” he said as a member of the Knesset. “This was the case when he arrived at Damascus Gate with his supporters during Ramadan, and this was the case when he twice set up an impromptu office in Sheikh Jarrah.” More than once it was his actions that led to violence, and as current Minister of National Security, he has more powerful tools at his disposal.

Despite this, it is possible that Ben Gvir's visit will pass peacefully and be swept up in a torrent of provocations and irresponsible and stupid statements by the new ministers, but it is likely that it symbolizes the beginning of a serious change in policy towards Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the first sensitive time is the upcoming Friday prayers.

It seems that the new government will provide many “explosive” factors, including the evacuation of Palestinian families for the benefit of settlers in Sheikh Jarrah or in Silwan, strengthening new settlements within Palestinian neighborhoods, accelerating projects such as the cable car in Jerusalem, the separation wall and archaeological excavations in Silwan, and increasing home demolitions and maneuvers. the police.

The real test in Ramadan

The real test will come in the spring, and unfortunately for us, Passover, the most important time on the calendar for Temple activists, will fall this year on the second week of Ramadan.

The day before yesterday, Raphael Morris, one of the most extreme and active activists involved in building the Temple, asked Ben Gvir to order the police to allow the renewal of the sacrifice (slaughtering sacrifices at Al-Aqsa) on Passover this year.

Morris demanded approval “as soon as possible so that we can organize at all levels (logistical, halakhic, bureaucratic and more), there is a golden opportunity to return the crown to its former glory.”

The difference this time is that the minister responsible for the police this year - for the first time - is the same lawyer who represented Morris after his previous arrests with Capricorn.

“It is not possible to arrest people simply because they seek to respect the Jewish religion,” lawyer Ben Gvir said in response to Morris’s arrest in 2017. He called on the police not to arrest him, and called for assistance to those seeking to celebrate the Passover sacrifice.