JERUSALEM, August 3, 2025 (WAFA) – Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a provocative march of Israeli colonists through the Old City of occupied Jerusalem late Saturday into early Sunday, ahead of planned mass incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to mark what the so-called “Temple Destruction Anniversary.”

During the march, Ben-Gvir made openly inflammatory remarks, declaring: “We are not satisfied with mourning. We are thinking about building the [Temple], about sovereignty, and about imposing control. We’ve done it in many places, and we’ll do it in Gaza too.”

Extremist Israeli groups known as “Temple organizations” have called for large-scale incursions into the mosque on Sunday, in what they describe as a major show of force aligned with religious-nationalist claims over the site.

According to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate, this year’s occasion is seen as one of the most dangerous for Al-Aqsa Mosque, as colonist groups aim to turn August 3 into a “day of mass incursion,” in an attempt to breach long-standing religious and legal boundaries. The effort is being backed by the current Israeli government, which has shown full support for the agenda of the Temple movement.

This escalation follows a wave of incitement and recent policy changes, including Ben-Gvir’s controversial orders to police permitting colonists to sing and dance within the mosque compound — a step widely viewed as part of a broader strategy to impose new realities by force.

In May, Ben-Gvir publicly declared that Jewish “prayer and prostration are now possible on the Temple Mount,” in direct violation of the historic status quo upheld at the holy site.

M.N