National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir ascended the Temple Mount on Monday morning in honor of the Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, where he offered a prayer and called for Israeli sovereignty over the site.
Ben Gvir opened his remarks by reflecting on the three years that have passed since the October 7 massacre.
“October 7 was an immense pain, a terrible pain. But today, three years later, it is the Sukkot holiday, a festival of joy, and we can be happy about many things that have happened since then.”
“And on this holiday, I pray here on the Temple Mount, at the most important place, for total victory, complete redemption, death to all terrorists, and sovereignty here, at the most important place for the Jewish people. They wanted to win. We defeated them, first and foremost, here on the Temple Mount.”
AFSI Insight
Ben Gvir’s declaration that “we are the masters here” underscores an important principle: the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site and must not remain a place where Jewish sovereignty is constrained by outside pressure. His call for Israeli sovereignty reflects a growing insistence that Israel exercise its rights in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount.
For AFSI, Jewish sovereignty means more than controlling security—it means the freedom of Jews to pray at Judaism’s holiest site. The gradual expansion of Jewish access and prayer in recent months represents a significant change from past restrictions and should not be reversed.