Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister Itshak Waserlauf on Wednesday morning clarified that his Tuesday visit to the Temple Mount was coordinated in advance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The comments follow criticism of the visits, which were held on Tisha B'av, the day the Jewish Holy Temples at the site were destroyed millennia ago.
"I coordinated this with everyone who it needed to be coordinated with," Waserlauf told 103FM Radio. "Two weeks ago, I turned to the Prime Minister and sent a letter to him requesting to ascend. They received the letter and it was all fine."
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office said, "It is the government and the Prime Minister who determine policy on the Temple Mount. There is no private policy of any minister – not the National Security Minister or any other minister – on the Temple Mount. Thus it has been under all governments of Israel."
"This morning's incident on the Temple Mount deviated from the status quo. Israel's policy on the Temple Mount has not changed; this is how it has been and this is how it will be."