(OPINION) On Thursday, Knesset Member Itamar Ben-Gvir (Jewish Power) entered the Temple Mount on Israel’s 74th Independence Day. During his visit, Ben-Gvir said: “The time has come to build a Jewish synagogue on the Temple Mount.”

Building the Third Temple is a commandment incumbent upon the Jewish people as written in the Book of Exodus: And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8)

Before ascending the Mount, Ben Gvir emphasized the importance of visiting the Temple Mount, writing: “Jews ascending the Temple Mount today proves that Hamas is an organization of pushovers that will easily surrender. On Israel’s 74th Independence Day, it’s important that government officials remember that we are an independent nation.”

Israel has prevented any effort to build a Temple on the Holy site for fear of Arab backlash. Instead, the Jewish pilgrims visiting the mount are forced to settle for silent prayer, an act recently allowed by the police stationed there.

Ben Gvir was among the more controversial MKs causing a storm when he decided to move his headquarters to the Arab-occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik.

Ben Gvir called for full Israeli control over the holy site in the past. In his opening speech in the Knesset, Ben Gvir lamented the hesitancy of the Israeli government to assert full sovereignty over Jerusalem and, more specifically, the Temple Mount saying: “I will act to ensure that Israeli control returns to Jerusalem and to the Temple Mount specifically.” READ MORE