In light of the wave of violence that has gripped Jerusalem and the West Bank, it is crucial that high-ranking officials refrain from inflammatory rhetoric that could make the situation worse. Thus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be rebuked by the US State Department after he claimed a Palestinian religious leader provoked the Holocaust. And this week, Netanyahu did what had been done to him: he had to rein in one of his top officials after she said her "dream" was to see the Israeli flag flying over Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which she calls Temple Mount. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also called on the government to allow Jews to go up to the Haram and pray there. Non-Muslims are permitted to visit the compound, but non-Muslim prayer is not allowed. The strong belief by Palestinians that this status quo is changing has led Al-Haram to be the focus of violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in recent months, and an ongoing escalation of violence, triggered, in part, by Palestinian charges that Israel intends to change the status quo on the religious site. The prime minister's office rebuked Hotovely's statement, saying that the Israeli government's policy regarding Al-Haram remained unchanged and came after understandings reached with US Secretary of State John Kerry in which Netanyahu stressed Israel's commitment to the status quo over Al-Haram, and confirmed that Israel will continue enforcing the policy by which Muslims will pray there and non-Muslims will only visit there. Kerry and Netanyahu agreed to a Jordanian proposal to install surveillance cameras at Al-Haram that would operate 24 hours a day. Netanyahu also ordered Israeli police to bar Jewish Knesset members and ministers from ascending Al-Haram. So, this is not the time for Hotovely or her comments, though the latter come as little surprise. She is a self-described religious right-winger, the ideological voice of the Likud Party. She rejects Palestinian statehood aspirations, and supports a Greater Israel spanning over the entire land of current Israel along with the Palestinian territories. She rejects criticism from the international community regarding the West Bank settlement policies and says she will make every effort to achieve global recognition for West Bank settlements, a move widely opposed by the international community. She says Israel has tried too hard to appease the world and must stand up for itself, as well as asserting that Israel owes no apologies for its policies toward the Palestinians. Every Israeli politician understands the sensitivities of Al-Aqsa, especially after it was captured from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War. Just hours after Israeli paratroopers took control of it, then-defense minister Moshe Dayan ordered the Israeli flag — which the soldiers had quickly raised — to be lowered. Since then, the flag has never been hoisted there again. Following the prime minister's office response, Hotovely tried to play down her comments, saying these were her own private messages and not government policy. However, Hotovely is a high-ranking Israeli government minister whose every word, private and public, counts. She is not a private citizen using Facebook or Twitter. If she has a personal opinion which contradicts official policy, she should either keep it to herself, or quit her post. Hotovely is a religious and political extremist who is fanning the flames of incitement. At the current time, at the epicenter of the current wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, there is a need to calm tensions and for Israel to restore at least some trust with the Palestinians, not add fuel to the fires of conflict in Jerusalem in general and Al-Haram Al
