PA Foreign Ministry: Trump’s policies encourage Israeli extremists “to implement more Judaization plans against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque… to destroy it and build the so-called Temple in its place”

Headline: "[PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The adoption of the occupation's narrative by the US encourages the extremists to do as they please with the Al-Aqsa Mosque"

"The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that the posts that the so-called 'Temple' organizations have posted on social media – in which they revealed that they have submitted a request to Israeli Minister of Public Security [Gilad Erdan] to extend the times of invading the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (a request was made that the Temple Mount be open to Jews on Tisha B'Av and for longer hours than usual; see notes below –Ed.) [and to allow the invasions] through all of the gates and not only through the Mughrabi Gate… – are a very grave matter…

The ministry emphasized that [US President Donald] Trump's decisions regarding Jerusalem (i.e., the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the transfer of the US embassy there; see note below) and the international community’s silence… are whetting the appetite of the extremists in Israel to implement more Judaization plans against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and to try and impose Israeli sovereignty over it – if not to destroy it and build the so-called Temple in its place."

Break-in/Invasion/attack of Al-Aqsa Mosque - The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, they vilify any presence of Jews on the mount as an "invasion." It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of violence by Palestinians.

“Temple organizations” refer to religious Jewish movements including the Temple Mount Institute, the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, the Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount, and Students for the Temple Mount, which spread awareness of the importance of the Temple Mount in Judaism and encourage people to visit the site. Preceding the Tisha B'Av fast in August 2019, the Students for the Temple Mount organization petitioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, and the commanders of the Jerusalem district police to open the Temple Mount on Tisha B' Av, and for longer hours than usual.

Tisha B'Av - Jewish day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE) and the forced exile of most of the Jewish people from the land of Israel.

Tisha B'Av 2019 – Muslims rioted on the Temple Mount on Aug. 11, 2019, for the express purpose of preventing Jews from going up to the site on Tisha B'Av (see note below), and were explicitly incited to do so by PA leaders such as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who two days prior posted a call on his Facebook page for Muslims in Jerusalem to postpone their holiday observance to the second day of the holiday so that "people will be available to carry out Ribat at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to resist the Israeli plan to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first day of the holiday (i.e. Tisha B' Av)," adding "Our mosque is our Ribat and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is our Jihad."

US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations. The US embassy was transferred from Tel Aviv and opened in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 according to the Gregorian calendar.