The United States, Israel’s most important ally, has warned against any change to the arrangements at the site. Speaking last month at a conference of J Street, a liberal Jewish advocacy group promoting an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the Biden administration would “unequivocally oppose any acts that undermined the prospects of a two-state solution” to the conflict, meaning the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. “Disruption to the historic status quo at holy sites” would be such an act, he added.
The hard-line policies of the new government could also have repercussions with Arab states, even as Israel has in recent years forged diplomatic ties with countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, and has maintained decades-old peace treaties with neighboring Egypt and Jordan.
King Abdullah II of Jordan said in an interview with CNN last week that he was prepared to get “into a conflict” if Israel tried to change the status of the Jerusalem holy site. After Mr. Ben-Gvir’s visit, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it would “follow it up at all levels,” in coordination with Jordan.
Mr. Ben-Gvir, who has a history of provocative actions and has been convicted in the past of incitement to racism and support for a terrorist group, had made no secret of his intention to visit the site as a minister. “Temple Mount is important, and as I said, I intend to ascend the mount,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday, the day he took office.
But the timing of the visit was intentionally obscured, presumably in order to prevent Palestinian protesters from gathering at the site to confront him.
The Israeli news media reported that Mr. Ben-Gvir might be intending to tour the site on Tuesday, a fast day in the Jewish calendar that is traditionally marked with pilgrimages to Jerusalem. On Monday evening Mr. Netanyahu met with Mr. Ben-Gvir to discuss the issue, after which the Israeli news media reported that Mr. Ben-Gvir had decided to postpone his visit to some undetermined time in the coming weeks.
Not wanting to be seen as capitulating to threats from Hamas, Mr. Netanyahu’s office put out a statement that evening saying that after consultations with security officials, the prime minister had not asked Mr. Ben-Gvir to refrain from visiting the site.
