TEL AVIV — National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount compound Tuesday in an act that was perceived by Palestinians, Jordan, the Emirates, Egypt and other Arab and Western countries as intentionally provocative. 

Ben-Gvir had visited the sites many times in the past, including as a member of the Knesset opposition last March. His highly publicized plans to visit the site, holy to both Muslims and Jews, had prompted warnings of retaliation by Hamas for his “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque area. Nonetheless, he went ahead with his plans and live-blogged the event.

Tuesday's visit was very different.

Ben-Gvir had stayed away from the volatile site since the Nov. 1 elections, when his nationalist Jewish Power party helped restore Benjamin Netanyahu to the premiership. One of the main items on the party's agenda is to increase visits of Jews to the holy site and allow Jews to pray there, so Ben-Gvir’s political base was unhappy that he had not yet visited the site. They accused him of chickening out now that he has been appointed minister of national security.