Muslim worshippers wrapped in Palestinian flags pray during holy Islamic month of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound (Photo credit: AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
On 4 January, The United Arab Emirates and China called for a special session of the United Nations Security Council to condemn the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound raid headed by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Security Council meeting is scheduled to take place on 5 January, although no details have been reported, according to Reuters.
The UAE and China called for an urgent meeting of the Security Council regarding the recent concerning developments at Al-Aqsa mosque.
Read the UAE’s statement below on the matter.📄https://t.co/GInSKjSAWW
— Shahad Matar (@UAEUNSpox) January 3, 2023
In a statement, the Emirati Foreign Ministry described Ben-Gvir’s entry into the holy site as an assault perpetrated under the protection of Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Arab Emirates was postponed until February, according to The Times of Israel.
The announcement of the delay came shortly after the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. However, according to the Ynet news site, Netanyahu’s associates denied any connection between the incidents and claimed the visit had been canceled due to logistical issues.
Netanyahu’s planned trip to Abu Dhabi would be his first official trip to the Gulf nation. In the years leading up to the 2020 Abraham Accords, Netanyahu made multiple unannounced trips to the United Arab Emirates, but never a public one.
On the other hand, the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Abulgheit, stressed that the storming of the Al-Aqsa mosque’s courtyard “comes in the context of the beginning of the implementation of the extremist program and the settlement agenda of the Netanyahu government, with all that this program implies in terms of inflaming the situation in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories in a very dangerous way,” reported by WAFA news agency.
The Arab League, which includes 22 member states, held the government of the new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, responsible for “the consequences of these extreme right-wing practices and plans and their repercussions on Palestine, the region and world peace, including the possibility of unleashing a religious war.”