PA Shari’ah Judge: Jews/Israelis are "impure... occupying thieves”
PA official: “Jews have no right” to the Temple Mount
During a recent sermon, one of the PA’s Shari’ah judges called on Allah to “liberate Al-Aqsa” and free it from “the impurity of the occupying thieves”:
PA Shari'ah Judge Ata Al-Muhtasib: “We will continue to defend our land, our holy sites, our noble Jerusalem, and our right to freedom and independence… Allah, forgive us our sins and exaggerations… and grant us victory over our enemies and the enemies of the Muslims… Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., the Cave of the Patriarchs), and the rest of the Muslim sites from the impurity of the occupying thieves, amen.”
[Official PA TV, Oct. 9, 2020]
Calls to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque” from the “impurity” of Jews, and the claim that the Al-Aqsa Mosque plaza and its surroundings – i.e., the Temple Mount - “belongs to Muslims only” have become some of the most frequently heard slogans of the PA’s hate speech and demonization of Israel, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented for decades.
Another PA official similarly taught worshippers at a sermon that “Jews have no right” to the Temple Mount:
Director-General of Ramallah and El-Bireh Waqf Wafiq Alawi: “Come to visit the imprisoned one, namely the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. …But should we come through the gate of the occupation (i.e., Israel), through the gate of the prison guard? And afterwards the tourist group [will come], and the occupier will explain: ‘This is the Temple Mount.’ What Temple, what Temple is [he talking] about? This is Al-Aqsa. This is our mosque that is a possession of the Muslims, and the Jews have no right to it!”
[Official PA TV, Oct. 23, 2020]
The denial of Jewish history is one of the central elements of the PA narrative. Accordingly, the PA teaches that the entire Temple Mount – including the Western Wall – is an Islamic waqf, i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, and therefore Jews have no rights to it:
Official PA TV narrator: “The historical documents in the possession of the Palestinians of Jerusalem testify that Jerusalem is a city of Arab origin for thousands of years, and its history and culture are Islamic. Since Islam's conquest [in the 7th century], the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) has remained an Islamic waqf. The Muslims have the absolute right to it and there is not even one rock there that dates back to the period of King Solomon, as the Jews claim.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 29, 2019]