Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations has strongly condemned desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of al-Quds by Israel’s new far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“We urge the Security Council to condemn the ongoing violations and crimes of the Zionist regime in the occupied Palestinian territories, and to force the lawless regime to strictly adhere to international regulations, including relevant United Nations resolutions,” Amir Saeed Iravani told a UN Security Council meeting to discuss recent developments in al-Quds Friday.
“It is regrettable that the Zionist regime’s blatant violations of human rights and international humanitarian principles in the occupied Palestinian territories, including systematic and brazen provocations as well as desecration of holy places, are met with the international community’s apathy,” Iravani stated.
He touched on the sensitivity of Muslims worldwide to any desecration of their holy places, saying that “if the international community, especially the Security Council, remains silent in the face of the Zionist regime’s ongoing violence, the regime will pluck up the courage to press ahead with its crimes and acts of aggression.”
The diplomat also dismissed Israeli envoy Gilad Erdan’s anti-Iranian allegations, emphasizing that such unfounded claims are meant to divert the world public opinion away from the continuing crimes and serious violations of international principles that the regime is perpetrating against the Palestinian nation.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour pushed for the Security Council on Thursday to take action against Israel over Ben-Gvir’s provocative actions.
“What red line does Israel need to cross for the Security Council to finally say, enough is enough?” Mansour asked the 15-member council, denouncing Israel for showing “absolute contempt”.
Hardline Israeli officials and settlers regularly storm the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city, a provocative move that infuriates Palestinians. Such mass settler break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but as part of a decades-old agreement between Jordan – the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in al-Quds – and Israel in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.
Back in May last year, an Israeli court upheld a ban on Jewish prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after an earlier lower court’s decision stirred outrage among various Palestinians and across the Muslim world. Judge of the district court in al-Quds Aryeh Romanov on October 8 confirmed that Jews are barred from worshiping openly at the site, and only Muslims are permitted to pray there.
In May 2021, frequent acts of violence against Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque led to an 11-day war between Palestinian resistance groups in the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli regime, during which the regime forces killed at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.
Palestinians want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state and view al-Quds’ eastern sector as the capital of their future sovereign state.