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Israel: "Claims of a Change in the Status Quo on the Temple Mount Are Groundless"
(Reuters-U.S. News) Dan Williams - Israel's new national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir briefly visited the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday - the 10th of Tevet in the Hebrew calendar, a Jewish fast day mourning the events that led to the destruction of the First Temple. "The Temple Mount is open to all," Ben-Gvir said on Twitter. Video footage showed him strolling at the periphery of the compound, surrounded by a heavy security detail, as the visit passed without incident. An official in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the premier was fully committed to the site's decades-old status quo allowing only Muslim worship there. An Israeli official said the 15-minute visit complied with an arrangement that allows non-Muslims to visit but not pray, and that ministers had visited the compound in the past in keeping with the status quo. An official at Netanyahu's office said "claims of a change in the status quo are groundless."