Ramallah, Feb 13 (Prensa Latina) The far-right Israeli legislator Itamar Ben Gvir received numerous criticisms today for threatening to set up his office in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem, which sparked a new wave of clashes.
Mossi Raz, a deputy for the leftist party Meretz, accused Ben Gvir of “trying to set the area on fire and provoke a war, just as he did in May” 2021.
On that date, the Israeli police authorities denounced the ultra-nationalist politician for fueling the violence by setting up a table and an awning in that neighborhood, which increased the protests in the Palestinian territories, which led to Tel Aviv’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The legislator’s new statement unleashed riots in the area, which caused numerous injuries.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the Gaza Strip, condemned the threats by the head of the National Religious Party and warned of an escalation.
Ben Gvir is known for having a photo of Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994, in his living room for years.
Likewise, he is a disciple of the ultranationalist rabbi Meir Kahane, known for his radical and extremist ideas, rejected even by other politicians of the Israeli right.
Sheikh Jarrah gained international notoriety for last year’s massive protests, when Israeli courts resumed orders to confiscate the homes of four families who have lived there for generations.
The legal and political battle over the case became symbolic of the future of that part of the city, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state, a position supported by most countries.
The Palestinian authorities systematically denounce Tel Aviv’s attempts to try to Judaize that territory through the colonization and expulsion of Arabs and to isolate that area from the rest of the West Bank by building a ring of settlements.
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