The existence and importance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is largely unknown to the West. Thus, the significance of the name chosen for the Oct 7, 2023 “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, is also largely lost on a Western populace. Yet, the background here is vitally important.

Israel’s Minister of National Security Ben Gvir and his depraved Kahanist followers are pushing toward an all-out bloodbath, holy war. Since Oct 7th, over 190,000 Israelis have filed for weapons licenses, with Gvir’s goal of arming Israel civilians en masse. “Ben Gvir then called ‘on everyone who is eligible’ to ‘go arm yourself’ with a ‘life-saving weapon.’ The month before Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came to power, Ben Gvir was filmed on the streets of occupied Jerusalem waving a pistol and calling on settlers to shoot unarmed Palestinians.” [Source: The Cradle] Prior to October 7, 2023, Ben Gvir, with his ultranationalist allies and Kahanist disciples, have been deliberately and increasingly antagonizing Palestinians and Muslims who consider the mosque to be Islam’s third holiest place after Mecca and Medina. The latest provocation occurred on October 4, 2023, when Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on fifth day of Sukkot.

The following is an excerpt from the article What Does Israel’s New Government Mean for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? published January 5, 2023:

Swiftly on the heels of the government’s swearing in, and in the face of warnings from the United States, the international community, and Israel’s own security establishment, Ben Gvir chose to message his long-stated position that “Israel is the owner of the Temple Mount” by paying a heavily secured visit to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.

Parsing technicalities surrounding provocations in a conflict cauldron is a dangerous game, particularly at a site as storied a flashpoint as the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. For Palestinians, Christian and Muslim alike, Al Aqsa mosque is considered their most powerful national symbol, making visits expressly intended to display Israeli sovereignty a potent provocation. It is in this vein that Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted on maintaining the status quo, as recently as 2020 noting that ‘Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, though it sounds like a reasonable thing, I know it would have ignited the Middle East … There’s a limit. There are things that I’m not willing to do to win an election.’…

March 14, 2021: “Israel police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on Monday morning as hardline Israelis prepared to parade through Old City in an annual flag-waving march.” More than 100 Palestinians were killed. (Image: GETTY)

Within hours of Ben Gvir’s visit and a UAE condemnation, Netanyahu’s planned upcoming official visit to the UAE was postponed. Subsequently, the UAE has joined with China in calling for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss concerns over these latest Jerusalem developments. Meanwhile, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Israel’s ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom to explain the provocation, Egypt and Turkey have both registered objection, and Saudi Arabia, the normalization “prize” Netanyahu most seeks, joined the chorus of condemnation in characterizing Ben Gvir’s visit as a “storming” of the Al-Aqsa.

The extent to which this vocal condemnation from Arab partners can serve to rein in the more extreme impulses of the Israeli government remains to be seen. Normalization with the Arab world is deeply popular among Israelis, but Netanyahu’s most extreme coalition partners on whom he relies are driven more by their annexationist and Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif sovereignty goals than by the lure of regional normalization or fear of the international community’s condemnation.

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Jan 3, 2023: ‘Unprecedented provocation’: Israeli ultranationalist minister visits Al-Aqsa mosque’