Al Jazeera says Netanyahu toured tunnels "underneath Al-Aqsa"; its other report says "Western Wall tunnels"
Three reports on the same Yom Kippur eve at the Al-Aqsa compound use three verbs and two names for the same passage. Only Palestine TV names the minister who entered the courtyards and the body that objected. We hold no Israeli account of either movement.
What the reports agree on. On Sunday 20 September 2026, the eve of Yom Kippur, Israel's prime minister walked through a tunnel complex at the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem, and people entered the compound's courtyards. Past that, the three reports we hold diverge — including two from the same outlet, published 97 minutes apart.
The words used for the same movements.
| Report | The verb | The place | Who objected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Jazeera English, 13:31 GMT | "tours", "walked through" | "tunnels underneath Al-Aqsa Mosque compound" | nobody — no objection carried |
| Al Jazeera English, 11:54 GMT | "storms" | "Western Wall tunnels" | "fierce condemnation", nobody named |
| Palestine TV, 13:09 GMT | "اقتحم" — stormed | "باحات المسجد الأقصى" — the courtyards | the Waqf, which "تستنكر" — condemns |
Whose name is on it. Two reports put Netanyahu in the headline. One names Itamar Ben Gvir, the national security minister, and calls him "المتطرف" — the extremist — in the outlet's own voice, with the police escorting him called "قوات الاحتلال" — the occupation forces.
Not settled. Whether the tunnels walked run beneath the compound or beside it. Whether Ben Gvir entered: one report says so, and one report is not corroboration. What the Waqf said: no report we hold carries the text of a statement. How many people entered: no report gives a number. And no Israeli outlet we hold carries either movement, so the Israeli government's own description of the day is absent from this story.
This is a story about two walks in the most contested acre in Jerusalem, and about how differently three reports described them.
How it got here. The walled compound in the Old City that Muslims call al-Haram al-Sharif and Jews call the Temple Mount holds the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war and annexed it; most states have never recognised the annexation, and Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Since 1967 the compound has been run day to day by an Islamic Waqf funded by Jordan, under an arrangement in which non-Muslims may visit at set hours but not pray, while Israeli police control the gates. Visits by Israeli ministers, and by religious nationalists who want Jewish prayer restored there, are the most frequent flashpoint in the city. Running alongside the compound's western retaining wall is a tunnel complex open to visitors as the Western Wall tunnels; its northern exit was opened in 1996 and was followed by days of deadly clashes. Whether any of it passes under the compound is precisely what these reports disagree about.
Who is in it. Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's prime minister. Itamar Ben Gvir is his national security minister, a far-right politician who holds the police portfolio and has entered the compound repeatedly since taking office in December 2022. The Waqf is the site's custodian. Palestine TV is the Palestinian Authority's broadcaster; Al Jazeera is funded by Qatar.
What is at stake. Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, began on Sunday evening. Changes at the compound — real or believed — have repeatedly preceded wider violence, so how a minister's entry is described is itself part of what happens next.
Where it stands. Three short notices, no photograph among them, and no Israeli account.
What is being argued about
- Whether the tunnels Netanyahu walked run under the Al-Aqsa compound or alongside it
- Whether Ben Gvir entered the courtyards, and who says so
- The words three reports choose for the same movements — tours, walked, stormed
- The missing Israeli account of what the government says it did
Claims and verdicts
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Netanyahu tours tunnels underneath Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Al Jazeera English →
What we have measured
Accusation attributed Cuba's charge is attributed to its foreign minister, not stated as fact ×1Actor named The headline names Israel as the actor and gives a count of three that includes a child. ×1Agency No actor is named for the detentions. The raids, not the soldiers, 'left' the town in lockdown ×1Agency Names Israel as the actor in the headline, in active voice ×1
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Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
🇵🇸PS ·
TV/radio · state-controlled
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
🇵🇸PS ·
TV/radio · state-controlled
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Who wrote it
Al Jazeera English
Coverage, outlet by outlet
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Netanyahu tours tunnels underneath Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Al Jazeera English →
What we have measured
Accusation attributed Cuba's charge is attributed to its foreign minister, not stated as fact ×1Actor named The headline names Israel as the actor and gives a count of three that includes a child. ×1Agency No actor is named for the detentions. The raids, not the soldiers, 'left' the town in lockdown ×1Agency Names Israel as the actor in the headline, in active voice ×1
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— state-funded international
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
🇵🇸PS ·
TV/radio · state-controlled
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
Haaretz
Haaretz
🇮🇱IL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
A previous framing corrected the twelve-country statement described as ambiguously worded ×1Asserted flat The report states as fact that barring Arab parties is a standing ritual. ×1Asserted flat The report says ethnicity explains the different outcomes, in its own voice. ×1Asserted in the report's own voice Parties are characterised by what they are said to promise, unattributed, and the headline calls the result frightening. ×1
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Ynet
Ynet
🇮🇱IL ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
A claim in the headline that the other reports very close to deciding the regime appears in one report only ×1Active voice The killers are the subject of the verbs 'beat' and 'burned'. ×1Active voice The killers are named as acting ×1Army's term, attributed the army names the target of its strikes, and no one on the other side is quoted ×1
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Shargh
Shargh
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
A count with its base both days given, and the data called preliminary ×1Actor named as a state the attack is Yemen's, not the Houthis' ×1A different actor does the asking Pakistan's army chief, not Beijing, is the one asking Tehran to use its influence, on the word of unnamed Pakistani government sources. ×1'aggression' in the narration The US campaign is called aggression in the report's own narration, which it credits to Al-Ahram's account of the call. ×1
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Al-Monitor
Al-Monitor
🇺🇸US/ME ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor from anonymous officials Puts the IRGC at the trigger in a sentence sourc ×1Actor named Names the Director-General as the one who requested the dismissal ×1Actor named names Trump as the one who began the war, with Israel ×1Actor named names Israel as the actor in its military actions against the Palestinians ×1
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Tehran Times
Tehran Times
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · state-controlled
What we have measured
Asserted vs attributed headline states the seizure flat; the body attributes it to the claimant ×1Attribution the toll is attributed to a body that is described but not named ×1Headline against body headline states the seizure flat; the body attributes it to the IRGC ×1How the objectors are framed opposition is described as protesters speaking for civilians ×1
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LBCI (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International)
LBCI (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International)
🇱🇧LB ·
TV/radio · independent
What we have measured
Active voice, actor named the Israeli army carried out the detonation ×1Actor framing Tehran calls the meeting. Iraq is the only other state named. ×1Actor left unnamed the strike in Iraqi waters has no one named as firing it — the source is "unknown" ×1Actor named names Israel as the one striking ×1
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The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel
🇮🇱IL ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actorless in own voice The killing is passive with no shooter in the se ×1Headline carries the purpose The livestock and the army's reason are in the h ×1Headline frame The headline carries the military's word for the ×1Military words carried whole Both the label for the dead and the phrase for t ×1
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A
Al-Sabaah
Ma'an News Agency
Ma'an News Agency
🇵🇸PS ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
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Al-Mada
Al-Mada
🇮🇶IQ ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
North Press Agency
North Press Agency
🇸🇾SY ·
wire · independent
What we have measured
Attribution the damage list is carried in full, attributed to the side claiming it ×1Single official source Uses the Saudi Press Agency's account: 'bilateral relations', with no mention of reconstruction or money. ×1What is at stake presents the stakes as trade and energy security; no ship, crew or price is counted ×1Which line is led with led by the legal instrument, naming the Security Council resolution by number ×1
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WAFA · Palestinian News & Information Agency
WAFA · Palestinian News & Information Agency
🇵🇸PS ·
state agency · state-controlled
What we have measured
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Al-Manar
Al-Manar
🇱🇧LB ·
TV/radio · independent
What we have measured
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Middle East Eye
Middle East Eye
🇬🇧UK ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
How hard the claim is stated Its own body says the investigators did not attribute the network to the Emirati state — the qualification its headline drops. ×1How hard the claim is stated The body withdraws in one line the attribution its own headline makes ×1How deeply it is sourced Cites its own past reporting as the evidence for the claim in its own headline, and calls the evidence widespread in its own voice ×1How deeply it is sourced Offers its own past reporting as the evidence supporting the claim in its headline, inside the same sentence that carries the denial. ×1
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Ammon News
Ammon News
🇯🇴JO ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →