Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, once again ascended the Temple Mount – Al-Haram Al-Sharif – "on the occasion of the Hanukkah holiday." While the act of ascending the Mount is not inherently provocative, it forms part of a religious-messianic (and anti-Zionist) agenda that the Kahanist movement – from which the Otzma Yehudit party emerged – has actively promoted for years.
Rabbi Meir Kahane, the ideological figurehead of the Kahanist movement, once declared that the movement advocates for "the expulsion of all non-Jews from the Temple Mount, the removal of all structures intended to perpetuate foreign rule in the Land of Israel, and the transfer of control over the Mount to God-fearing Jews." A decade ago, Ben-Gvir, a close advisor to Kahane and now a prominent minister, echoed this sentiment, stating, "The Temple Mount is the largest cancerous growth we have here, and until the Israeli government comes to its senses and removes this growth, we will not achieve the country's complete redemption."
This rhetoric has also permeated cultural expressions associated with the movement. For instance, a member of the "Lehava Movement – For the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land" authored the lyrics to a now-popular song titled "We Just Want to Dance." The lyrics include the provocative lines: "And the main thing is on the Temple Mount / to blow up the mosque, to blow up the mosque / to build the temple."
Ben-Gvir's prayer on the Temple Mount was not aimed at maintaining the "status quo" – a concept that has long been eroded despite the Prime Minister's claims to the contrary. Rather, as the minister himself articulated, his actions were intended to symbolize "complete victory" in the spirit of Kahanism. This vision represents not just a profound shift in religious and political control but, as many see it, the unraveling of the state and societal cohesion in Israel.
