Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met this afternoon with the US State Department delegation that arrived in Israel.
Foreign Minister Lapid said after the meeting:
“The State of Israel is facing extreme Islamist terrorism whose whole purpose is to sow violence, fear and chaos. We call on all leaders in the region to act and speak responsibly to calm the spirits. Israel maintains and will continue to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount and have no intention of changing it.”
Lapid added:
“We will not accept any situation of missile fire from the Gaza Strip on the State of Israel. Hamas and the whole world need to know that Israel will act and do everything necessary to protect the security of its citizens.”
The meeting was attended by the Deputy State Secretary for Middle East Affairs, Yael Lampert, the Deputy State Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, Hadi Amar, and the US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides.
On the Israeli side, Foreign Ministry Director General Alon Ushpiz and Oded Yosef, Deputy Director General of the Middle East and the Foreign Ministry’s peace process, participated.
During the meeting, the efforts made by Israel during a very challenging period to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount were discussed.
Minister Lapid updated that in the first two weeks of Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Muslims prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The only ones who bothered them were extremists and Hamas supporters. They took over the mosque, desecrated it, disrupted prayer and threw fireworks, Molotov cocktails and stones.
We work only to prevent the violence and allow the prayers to continue as usual. This is Israeli policy, and there is no other.
Lapid expressed much appreciation to the United States for the efforts it is making to calm tensions in the region.