Al-Azhar calls on Muslim world to take a ‎firm stance against Ben-Gvir’s excessive statements of building synagogue in Aqsa

CAIRO – 27 August 2024: Al-Azhar strongly condemns the excessive and provocative ‎statements issued by an extremist Zionist official regarding ‎his support for the establishment of a Jewish synagogue ‎inside the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he plans to establish a Jewish synagogue within Al-Aqsa Mosque, stirring the provocation of Arab and Muslim officials.

Al Azhar added that these ‎provocative statements are issued only by persons with an ‎extremist mentality that does not respect religions, the ‎sanctities of others, or international laws and conventions, ‎and that knows only the law of the jungle, brutality, and ‎criminality.‎

Al-Azhar reminds the whole world that the blessed Al-Aqsa ‎Mosque, with its courtyards, precincts, and all its areas, has ‎been and shall always be purely Islamic and a historical right ‎for Muslims. It is Islamic in origin, and it is the first of the two ‎Qiblahs and the third of the two Holy Mosques. It will remain ‎as such despite the criminal Zionist plans to Judaize the ‎historical landmarks of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of ‎Jerusalem.‎

Therefore, Al-Azhar calls on the governments of the Muslim ‎world to take serious and strict positions against these ‎irresponsible and repeated statements by this Zionist official ‎and other extremists who have become accustomed to ‎storming the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and inciting violence ‎and terrorism against innocent Palestinians. Al-Azhar calls on ‎all Muslim governments to put an end to these criminal ‎statements and terrorist practices by the officials of this ‎extremist occupant.‎

Egypt strongly condemned the remarks made by extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding plans to establish a Jewish synagogue within Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a statement, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Egypt emphasized its position on the matter by holding Israel legally responsible for upholding the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and for safeguarding Islamic and Christian holy sites.

Egypt called on Israel to fulfill its obligations -as an occupying power - to cease provocative statements that contribute to regional tensions and escalation.

Egypt highlighted that such irresponsible statements regarding religious sites in the Palestinian territories exacerbate the situation, obstruct efforts to achieve calm and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and threaten the prospects for a final settlement of the Palestinian issue, which should be based on a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state established along the borders of June 4, 1967, and East Jerusalem as its capital.