The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was quick to hold an emergency session on January 5 because a Jew dared to walk on the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Two days earlier, that Jew, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, had made a quiet, 13-minute tour of the site.
Although Jews visiting the Temple Mount are often harassed, threatened and sometimes physically attacked by Muslims, Ben-Gvir’s brief tour ended peacefully and no violent incidents were reported by either Muslims or Jews. Still, the Palestinians and some countries, dubbing the visit a “dangerous and unprecedented provocation,” continued to condemn Israel over it.
