Israel’s United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan criticized the U.N. for holding a Security Council meeting after Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for 13 minutes. Erdan said, “To hold a Security Council session on a non-event is truly absurd. To claim that this brief and completely legitimate visit should spark an emergency Security Council session is pathetic.” Assistant U.N. secretary-general Mohamed Khaled Khiari said, “The visit was sharply condemned by the Palestinian Authority, many others across the region and international community as a provocation that risked sparking further bloodshed.” Jews are permitted to visit the Temple Mount but not allowed to pray there. Ben-Gvir did not pray during his visit.
