By James M. Dorsey

When Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stormed the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif with up to 3,000 of his singing, dancing, and praying ultra-nationalist religious followers, he didn’t just target the site holy to Jews and Muslims.

Mr. Ben Gvir carefully timed his provocation, violating long-standing arrangements with the Jordanian-controlled endowment that administers the Muslim holy sites on the Mount, to fuel regional tensions.

The arrangements allow non-Muslims to visit the site in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City but ban them from praying there.

With his provocation, Mr. Ben Gvir hoped to sabotage US-Qatar-Egypt-mediated Gaza ceasefire talks scheduled to be held later this week in either Doha or Cairo.

Please read further, watch the video, or listen to the podcast at https://jamesmdorsey.substack.com/p/ultra-nationalists-provoke-as-netanyahus

By James M. Dorsey

is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, co-director of the Institute of Fan Culture of the University of Würzburg and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, and a forthcoming book with the same title.