Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and fellow Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Yitzhak Kroizer used Jerusalem Day to issue some of the strongest public calls yet from sitting Israeli officials for expanded Jewish control on the Temple Mount — and, in Kroizer’s case, the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.
Ben Gvir and Kroizer were seen waving an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount ahead of the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March through the Old City, a highly charged event marking Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The site, revered by Jews as the location of the First and Second Temples and known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, remains one of the most sensitive religious and political flashpoints in the world.
“We restored governance on the Temple Mount thanks to determination and deterrence,” Ben Gvir declared. “This year, Ramadan was the quietest, thanks to deterrence. The Temple Mount is in our hands.”
The two lawmakers then danced and sang near the Dome of the Rock while holding the Israeli flag, a move certain to draw sharp reaction from Arab governments, Muslim authorities, and international diplomats.
Earlier Thursday, Kroizer visited the Temple Mount with his children and father, a prominent Kahanist rabbi, to mark Jerusalem Day. He was photographed prostrating himself on the ground facing the Dome of the Rock — an act of Jewish prayer that remains officially prohibited under the long-standing status quo arrangement governing the site.
“The time has come to get rid of all the mosques and work to construct the Temple!” Kroizer later wrote on Facebook, according to Israeli media.
On Wednesday, Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, also a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, urged Israelis to visit the Temple Mount to witness what he called the “revolution” led there by Ben Gvir.
Under the traditional status quo, Jews may visit the Temple Mount but are not officially permitted to pray there. In practice, however, Israeli police under Ben Gvir’s ministry have increasingly tolerated Jewish prayer at the site, despite repeated statements from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the decades-old arrangement remains unchanged.
For Israel’s supporters, Jerusalem Day remains a celebration of the Jewish people’s return to their ancient capital after nearly 2,000 years of exile. For Israel’s enemies, it remains a rallying point for incitement and confrontation. And for students of Bible prophecy, the renewed political and religious focus on the Temple Mount is difficult to ignore.
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