On Sept. 28, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir entered the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection and restated Israeli claims; Jordan condemned it. He has visited before, including a July visit Reuters said praised Jewish prayer there, while Netanyahu says the status quo is unchanged.

The piece cites the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion treating East Jerusalem as occupied, plus UNSC 478, a 2026 report on Resolution 2334, and UNESCO, and argues repeated official visits can change perceptions even if written policy does not.

Pakistan’s line, restated by Ishaq Dar in New York, is protection of the historic arrangements and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as capital on pre-1967 lines; the author warns a religious framing spreads the dispute beyond borders.

Jerusalem has an uncanny gift for making a domestic issue into an international crisis. It takes just a few minutes to enter a religious sanctuary and a few minutes more before it resonates in capitals thousands of miles away. For all of these reasons, the recent visit of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound is worth more than just a cursory discussion of the political issues it has raised. On September 28, large groups entered the compound under Israeli police protection, while Ben Gvir again asserted Israeli claims over the site. The episode was reported in the latest coverage from Jerusalem and immediately drew a condemnation from Jordan.

What makes the incident more serious is repetition. Ben Gvir has visited the compound several times while serving as national security minister. During an earlier July visit, he........

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