Palestinian Authority incites religious hatred
Palestinian Authority incites religious hatred:
"Are you waiting for them
to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque?"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The Palestinian Authority continues to incite religious hatred, spreading the libel that Israel is in the process of destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The text on the above image is supposed to instill fear and hatred in Palestinians that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger, threatened by Israel:
"What are you waiting for?
Are you waiting for them to destroy this? (Visual of the Al-Aqsa Mosque -Ed.)
In order to build this?" (Visual of the Temple -Ed.)
[Al-Asima, Feb. 25, 2015]
The charge that the Mosque will be destroyed unless Palestinians take active steps to prevent it, was published alongside an article in Al-Asima, a bi-weekly distributed with the official PA daily, which repeated the libel that Israel seeks to destroy the Mosque in order to build the third Temple in its place:
"It is no secret that the 'Israeli' aspiration since the occupation of East Jerusalem in the war of 1967 has been to first divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque and perhaps even to destroy it, in order to build, eventually, their alleged Temple."
[Al-Asima, distributed with official PA daily
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 25, 2015]
These PA libels that incite fear and hatred of Israelis are widely believed by Palestinians. A poll conducted four months ago found that 56% of Palestinians believe that "Israel intends to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and 86% of Palestinians believe that "Al-Haram Al-Sharif (i.e., the Temple Mount) is in grave danger." [http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/505, Dec. 9, 2014]
Another article in Al-Asima referred to the Western Wall as "Islamic property with a Palestinian identity" and claimed that "the Jews' ultimate goal" has always been to "take control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the pretext that it is their false and alleged Temple." [Al-Asima, Feb. 25, 2015]
PA leaders regularly reinforce this message, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented. When Jews wanted to access the Temple Mount during the recent Purim holiday, the highest religious authority in the PA, Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, "warned" Israel of "the dangerous consequences of this aggressive move," and called on Muslim worshippers "from all parts of the homeland" to come and "defend the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem and to assist in any way possible." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 3, 2015]
The term "to assist in any way possible" to defend the Mosque used by the Mufti echoes a term used by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas last year, and which was broadcast on PA TV 19 times in three days:
"We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary. This is our Sanctuary, our Al-Aqsa and our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 17-19, 2014]
Abbas voiced this implicit call for violence to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the beginning of the two-month long Palestinian terror campaign against Israelis. During October-December 2014, terrorists used cars, knives and guns to kill 11 people.
The following are longer excerpts of the reports warning that Israel is planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque:
Headline: "Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) - Islamic property with a Palestinian identity"
"The plot against the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) began during the British occupation, for this occupation's authorities sought to allow Jews access to the Al-Buraq Wall... After the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), Jewish Zionist announcements appeared in Western newspapers calling for the building of their false and alleged Temple, until the situation became such that on Sunday, Sept. 23, 1928, a separating curtain was placed between men and women at the Al-Buraq Wall, and they blew their shofars (rams' horns) there. This roused the Muslims and made them understand that the Jews' ultimate goal was to gradually take control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the pretext that it is their false and alleged Temple, and they are starting [to do] this from the Al-Buraq Wall."
[Al-Asima, bi-weekly distributed with Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 25, 2015]
Notes: Al-Asima is distributed with the official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and lists as its "general supervisor" Othman Abu Gharbieh, who is a member of Fatah's Central Committee and the Secretary General of the Popular National Conference of Jerusalem, the PLO institution that publishes this bi-weekly.
Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount) - Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have rode during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920's, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and for Muslims he renamed the Western Wall - the "Al-Buraq Wall." The PA now claims it is a Muslim holy site and says Jews, therefore, are prohibited from praying at the wall.
The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that "His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" and is seen as the basis for later international commitments to establish the State of Israel.
Headline: "Jewish calls to hold celebrations marking the Purim holiday at Al-Aqsa tomorrow"
"Jewish groups acting under the umbrella of the alleged Temple organizations called for mass participation on the part of their supporters in intense invasions of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque they are to lead tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, in order to hold traditional celebrations marking the Jewish holiday of Purim inside it...
PA Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Muhammad Hussein condemned these calls, and warned the occupation authorities of 'the dangerous consequences of this aggressive move, which is an affront to the sanctity of the Muslims' first direction of prayer and the place to which their Prophet, peace be upon Him, traveled (i.e., reference to Muhammad's Night Journey recounted in the Quran).
He called on [Muslim] worshippers from Jerusalem and the Palestinian interior (i.e., Israel), and on anyone capable of entering Jerusalem from all parts of the homeland to increase the pilgrimage to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. He called on the Arab and Islamic nation to do its utmost to defend the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, and to assist in any way possible."
From WAFA, official PA news agency
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 3, 2015]
Note:"Alleged Temple organizations" refer to religious Jewish movements including 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 Purim holiday, religious websites such as the Temple Mount News website [Feb. 23, 2015] announced a "special visit" to the Temple Mount, which was expected to draw "masses of Jews."