Ben Gvir affirms that “he will go up to the Temple Mount” and says, given the anti-LGTB positions of the new Government, that “nobody wants to exclude anyone”
Dec. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Hundreds of protesters have blocked traffic on a major highway in the city of Tel Aviv to protest the anti-LGTB stances of the newly appointed Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office on Thursday.
As the new cabinet holds its first meeting, hundreds of people have demonstrated with banners and rainbow flags around Azrieli, home to three of the city’s iconic skyscrapers, to protest against the new government.
Traffic has also been blocked near the Yehudit pedestrian bridge, although for the moment there are no detainees, despite moments of tension between the Israeli police and the protesters, as reported by the newspaper ‘The Jerusalem Post’.
The approval of the new Netanyahu government, which has several far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties in its ranks, has also been tense this morning, marked by a demonstration in front of the Knesset headquarters in which hundreds of people have participated, chanting slogans against racism and corruption — in reference to a trial against Netanyahu on these charges — and have vowed to “end the darkness.”
“‘Bibi’ and Ben Gvir (National Security Minister) are destroying democracy,” read one of the protest banners, which also featured many Israeli and rainbow flags, amid concerns about the presence in the within the coalition of openly homophobic politicians.
Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich has in the past expressed views against the LGBTQ community, as has Avi Maoz, leader of the far-right Noam, who will control the content taught in schools. Maoz has described himself as a “proud homophobe” and called liberal stances within Judaism “dark.”
ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT
Another of the burning points of the new Israeli government is the existing concern about the ‘status quo’ in the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holy place of Islam, which rests on one of its sides on the Wailing Wall, the last vestige of the Temple. of Solomon that the most radical Jews intend to use as part of a Third Temple.
The leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudi, Itamar Ben Gvir, who will be the Minister of National Security, will have in the new Executive broad powers over the Police, a unit that has about 2,000 soldiers and whose duties include anti-riot, arrest and settlement evacuation.
Netanyahu has already announced that he will promote the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank, something criticized by the Palestinian Authority, which has also charged against the role that several far-right leaders will play within the Executive.
In this sense, given the controversy both over the ‘status quo’ of the holy places and the possible increase in tensions in the West Bank and Gaza, Ben Gvir reiterated this Thursday that he “will go up to the Temple Mount”.
“I don’t need a coalition agreement for that. It’s clear: I’m against racism on the Temple Mount (Mosque Esplanade),” said the far-right in an interview with Kan News collected by the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel ‘.
Likewise, Ben Gvir has stressed that he will be “a minister for all”, both for Jews and for Arabs, since the latter “also suffer from crime”. Regarding the LGTB community, he has assured that “nobody wants to exclude anyone”.
