Jews are "foreign criminals and thieves" declares PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge

Headline: “Al-Habbash: Waving the occupation’s flag and singing its anthem at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are outrageous aggression against our holy sites and against our religion”

“[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that the terrorist settlers’ threat to wave the [Israeli] occupation state’s flag and sing ‘the Israeli national anthem’ in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas on the day of the Nakba of Palestine (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) constitute a clear attack against the sites that are holy to the Muslims and against their religion. He added that this is a new Nakba that is being committed by the occupation state against our holy sites, our religion, and our homeland…

Al-Habbash emphasized: ‘The occupation’s policy will ignite a religious war in the holy city [of Jerusalem], due to the attempts to impose new equations on the ground such as a division of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque [between Jews and Muslims] according to times and areas. This is in order to Judaize the city, expel its original residents who have the right to it, and replace them with foreign criminals and thieves from all ends of the earth.’ He also emphasized that… the occupation state is playing with fire, and that it will be burned by it if anything bad happens to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Al-Habbash demanded that the members of the Palestinian people be present in the plazas of the Jerusalem Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) in large numbers, in order to thwart the occupation’s plans.”

Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice. In August 2019 PA Chairman Abbas dismissed all his advisors by Presidential decree. It is unclear what their status is today.

“Division according to areas and times” refers to a submission of a “private bill” by Israeli MP Uri Ariel in March 2003. The bill suggested ensuring freedom of religious worship by allowing both Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount - what the Palestinians call the Al-Aqsa Mosque plaza. The bill sought to designate separate prayer times and areas of the site for Muslims and Jews. The bill never progressed past the initial legislatory stage. While there was additional discussion on the subject in 2012, no legislation was ever passed. In response to the incessant PA claims that the “division according to areas and times” of the Temple Mount is an operative Israeli plan, former Israeli PM Netanyahu stated on many occasions that the Israeli government has no intention of ‎changing the so-called status quo on the Temple Mount, which de facto is interpreted to mean Jews are only allowed to enter the Temple Mount, but not to conduct individual or communal prayers there. In July 2021, Israeli PM Naftali Bennett said Muslims and Jews have freedom of worship at the Temple Mount, which was understood by many as a hint to changing the status quo at the site, but the following day his office backtracked and said he misspoke and did not mean Jews would have freedom of worship, but rather would have freedom to visit. “There is no change in the status quo,” a statement from PM Bennett’s office confirmed.y type of worship.