Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned a September 20 visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and groups of settlers under Israeli police protection, according to Saudi and regional reports published on September 21.
Saudi Gazette, citing a Foreign Ministry statement, said Riyadh denounced what it described as the storming of Al-Aqsa’s courtyards by an official of the Israeli authorities and a group of extremist settlers. The ministry characterised the incident as a flagrant violation and a provocation to Muslims worldwide and called on the international community to act to stop what it described as repeated attacks on Palestinians and holy sites.
Gulf Pulse is presenting those legal and political characterisations as the stated position of the Saudi government. They are not independent legal findings by Gulf Pulse. The precise legal status of actions at the site is contested and politically sensitive, and different governments and parties use different terminology when describing visits, entry, prayer and policing at the compound.
The underlying visit itself was reported by multiple regional sources. Anadolu Agency said Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa compound on September 20 with groups of Jews under Israeli police protection, prompting condemnations from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait. The Jordan News Agency, Petra, also reported that Ben-Gvir was among those who entered the compound on Sunday under police protection and that further groups entered on Monday.
Qatar News Agency separately carried the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s condemnation on September 21. Its report said the ministry rejected provocative practices and acts of incitement and violence by Israeli officials against Palestinians and holy sites, and urged the international community to fulfil what Riyadh described as its responsibility to halt such actions.
The site is known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa Mosque or Al-Haram Al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. It is one of the most sensitive religious and political sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jordan has a recognised custodial role over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, while Israeli authorities control access and security around the compound. Disputes over visits, prayer practices and policing frequently draw regional diplomatic reactions.
Saudi Arabia’s statement did not announce a new diplomatic measure, sanction, negotiation or change in bilateral policy. It was a public condemnation and a call for international action. Gulf Pulse has therefore not presented it as evidence of a new formal policy step beyond the wording of the ministry’s statement.
The Saudi position was part of a broader wave of regional criticism. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry issued its own condemnation of Ben-Gvir’s visit, while Jordanian officials said the incident violated the historical and legal status quo at the site. Those separate statements show that the Saudi response was not isolated, but each government’s legal language remains its own attributed position.
No casualty was reported in the Saudi statement reviewed for this article, and the material did not describe an armed clash inside the compound during the specific visit at issue. Gulf Pulse has not added claims about violence, arrests or injuries that were not supported by the sources used here.
The immediate verified development is therefore limited but politically significant: Ben-Gvir and groups of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa compound under Israeli police protection on September 20, according to several regional reports; Saudi Arabia publicly condemned the incident on September 21; and the ministry called for international action while framing the visit as a violation of international law and international humanitarian law.
Any subsequent diplomatic action, new restrictions at the compound, official Israeli response or further regional statement would require a separate update. This draft remains focused on the Saudi government’s documented reaction and the independently reported visit that prompted it.
