Israeli minister visits mosque, sparks outrage

JERUSALEM: An Israeli cabinet minister who made headlines last week for racist remarks about Arabs paid a rare visit to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque yesterday, prompting condemnation from Palestinian religious leaders.

Nine years ago, a similar visit sparked a bloody uprising.

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, a member of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, went to Islam's third holiest site to review police deployments in the flashpoint area, his spokesman said.