Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount to pray for return of captives

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Thursday to pray for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“I went up to the Temple Mount this morning to pray for the return home of the abductees—but without a reckless deal, but through increasing military pressure against Hamas and continuing to crush it,” the Otzma Yehudit Party leader said in a video statement posted to X after the visit.

According to a Channel 13 report on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir suggested to Security Cabinet ministers that a ceasefire agreement including the release of captives should be postponed until after the November U.S. presidential election, lest it give President Joe Biden a political advantage over his Republican challenger, Donald Trump.

Ben-Gvir reportedly said that an agreement now would be “a slap for Trump, which would be a victory for Biden.”

Many ministers attacked Ben-Gvir for his comments, including some from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party.

“We must act for immediate release. The abductees have been there for nine months. Women can give birth during this period of time,” Science Minister Gila Gamliel was quoted as saying.

Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to collapse the government if a deal is signed that ends the fighting in Gaza without first destroying Hamas.

A frequent visitor to the holiest site in Judaism, Ben-Gvir last ascended the Temple Mount in May.

“From the holiest place for the people of Israel and which belongs only to the State of Israel, I say: Tonight we will receive another testimony as to why Hamas must be totally destroyed. The countries that recognized a Palestinian state today are giving a reward to the terrorists,” he said in a video from atop the mount.

“And I say we will not allow even a declaration of a Palestinian state. And I say one more thing: To destroy Hamas, we have to go into Rafah to the end, do a root canal. To return our hostages, we need to stop the [supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip] fuel, establish that humanitarianism is only for humanitarianism. And control this place, the most important place.”

The Temple Mount is the site of the First and Second Temples, destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian and Roman empires, respectively.

Israel liberated the Mount during the 1967 Six-Day War. It then handed its administration back to the Waqf Islamic trust under Jordanian Hashemite custodianship, while maintaining Israeli security control.