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Rabat – Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has stirred a new backlash after instructing Israeli troops to continue demolishing Palestinian houses in occupied East Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan.
According to Israeli media, successive Israeli governments have had a policy of halting house demolition during the month of Ramadan for years to “reduce tension.”
In a number of bellicose remarks over the past week, however, Ben-Gvir stressed his refusal to change or halt Israel’s house demolition policy because of Ramadan.
“In the past, the police really did not go into eastern Jerusalem to enforce the law. We must not change our lives because of Ramadan. We must embrace the people who want to live quiet lives,” he said.
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces have demolished at least 47 Palestinian-built structures in occupied East Jerusalem since the start of 2023.
A ‘Program to Crackdown’ on Palestinian Properties
The demolished buildings included inhabited and uninhabited homes as well as stores, leaving many families without shelter.
The demolitions are part of Ben-Gvir’s “program to crackdown” on Palestinian houses, converging reports in the Israeli media have indicated, stressing that demolitions targeting Palestinian properties have increased “dramatically” since the far-right minister took office in December 2022.
This is not the first time that the Israeli official has stirred controversy and backlash.
Earlier this year, Ben-Gvir set off a worldwide uproar after he stormed Al-Aqsa mosque. Many countries expressed concerns over what they described as a reckless move, stressing that the minister’s visit was a provocative act that challenged the holy sites’ status.
Experts from the international community have long warned of Israeli troops’ violation of human rights in occupied Palestinian territories. Despite the warnings, Israel continues to defy UN resolutions and recommendations, generating among Palestinians a fierce backlash that could further escalate tensions in the region.
In February, UN experts called on the international community to take action to “stop systematic and deliberate housing demolition and sealing, arbitrary displacement and forced evictions of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank.”
This past January alone, Israeli authorities demolished 132 Palestinian structures across 38 communities in the occupied West Bank, according to the The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR).
“The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, erection of illegal Israeli settlements, and systematic denial of building permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank amounts to ‘domicide,’” UN experts warned.
