ISRAEL INSIGHTS by AVI MELAMED
ISRAEL’S MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY’S VISIT TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT PLAYS TO THE HANDS OF HAMAS
What Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir’s quick visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday is counterproductive to Israel’s strategic and security interests. The visit plays into the hands of those opposing normalization, those criticizing Israel’s allies in the region, and provides the perfect distraction for Iran at a time when it is trying to divert world attention from its brutal suppression of domestic protestors.
For the Palestinian Authority (PA) already going through its own power struggle, the trip – seen as a provocation by Israelis against the Muslim-control over the Al-Aqsa compound – is inflaming tensions with both moderate and more radical Palestinians who criticize the PA’s strategic choice of diplomacy over armed conflict and what they perceive as a loss of the power to deter Israeli provocations through the threat of violence.
With the trip being directly against the publicly reported wishes of Netanyahu, many in Israel and abroad question his ability to reign in more right-wing influences within his coalition.
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