UN to hold emergency meeting on Israeli desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
5 Jan 2023 12:28
4 Shares

The emergency meeting comes at the request of Palestinians and several Islamic and non-Islamic nations.

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (AFP)

The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting Thursday at the request of Palestinians and Islamic and non-Islamic nations to protest the storming of the extremist Israeli Police Minister into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid demands for an end to the extremist Israeli provocations and respect for the "historic status quo at the site."

This comes two days after Israeli Police Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, protected by a large number of Israeli occupation forces (IOF), causing worldwide condemnation and threatening another Intifada.

After meeting with Arab ambassadors, representatives of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the 120-member Nonaligned Movement, and others, Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Wednesday that there is a widespread condemnation not only of Ben-Gvir's storming of Al-Aqsa but also of the broader "environment of extremism" surrounding “Israel's” most extremist government.

Mansour accused “Israel” of violence not only against Muslim sacred places, such as Al-Aqsa Mosque, but also against Christian sites, such as cemeteries.

Mansour, backed by ambassadors from over 20 countries, stated that at Thursday's emergency Security Council meeting, which is also supported by the UAE, China, France, and Malta, "we will not be pleased with beautiful statements that will be uttered."

“We want them to be implemented in a concrete way,” he said. “We want this behavior not to be repeated in Al Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and we want a guarantee of honoring and respecting the historic status quo in deeds, not only in words.”

This is happening shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu began his sixth term as Israeli occupation’s Prime Minister, leading the most right-wing Israeli government. Its objectives include expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.