A Palestinian sheikh called Jews “the most despicable of Allah’s creatures” and urged their annihilation during an address at the al-Aqsa Mosque that was posted to the internet last week.
Sheikh Ali Abu Ahmad began by slamming a Jordanian plan to install security cameras at al-Aqsa this week. Jordan’s Islamic Affairs Minister said that the cameras will “document all Israeli violations and aggressions,” and that no camera would be placed within mosques. Abu Ahmad rejected this claim, saying that the cameras will instead be used “to monitor the Muslims who confront the Jews, so that they can be arrested by the Israelis, by the Jordanians, or by the Ramallah Authority of Disgrace.”
“The Al-Aqsa Mosque has been suffering under occupation ever since the defeat of the Caliphate in Istanbul,” he added. “The Al-Aqsa Mosque is being defiled by the Jews day in and day out.”
Abu Ahmad concluded by praying for the death of all Jews, saying, “Oh Allah, annihilate all the Jews! Oh Allah, enable us to kill them! Oh Allah, make the ground swallow them up, along with their homes!”
Abu Ahmad ended an address at al-Aqsa on November 2014 in a similar manner, shouting, “Oh Allah, annihilate America and its coalition. Oh Allah, enable us to cut off their heads. Oh Allah, help our brothers, the mujahideen in the land of Iraq and Syria.”
Abu Ahmad’s comments were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest location in Islam, is located on the Temple Mount complex, Judaism’s most sacred site. It is managed by the Jordanian Islamic Waqf.
The charge that Jews are soling al-Aqsa with their presence on the Temple Mount compound, and that Israel is violating the status quo at the site, is a frequent theme of Palestinian incitement against Israel. Though the Israeli government routinely rejects the claim, and non-Muslim presence and activity in the complex remains highly restricted, Palestinian leaders often declare that al-Aqsa is in danger, an accusation that predates the founding of Israel.
In his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in October, Washington Institute for Near East Policy distinguished fellow David Makovsky explained:
Sadly, the charge that Israel is out to destroy the mosque is not new. This claim was made in 1929, resulting in riots in Hebron that killed 63 people. More recently, fatal violence surrounding the Temple Mount occurred in 1991 (20 killed), 1996 (87 killed), 2000 (153 killed within the first month of violence), and 2014 (9 killed).
Two Israeli Arab girls who stabbed a security guard last month said they did so as “revenge for the situation in the al-Aqsa Mosque.”
In a song released several days after the stabbing, the Palestinian al-Wa’ed Band glorified suicide bombings and told so-called martyrdom-seekers to “heed the call of the al-Aqsa Mosque, make the blast of the bomb reach further and further.”
ISIS released a video in October pledging to “liberate Al-Aqsa from the defilement of the sons of apes and pigs.” That same month, a Hebrew-speaking ISIS militant vowed that “We will enter al-Aqsa mosque as conquerors, using our cars as bombs to strike the Jewish ramparts.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared in a speech last September that Palestinians would not allow Jews to desecrate Jerusalem holy sites, including al-Aqsa, with their “filthy feet.”
The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours… and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem.
On a tour of the Temple Mount in August, a congressional delegation witnessed a group of Jewish visitors to the holy site being accosted by a group of Islamic activists.
“I wish it was something the world understood more and was more aware of,” said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), whose own group was also harangued while at the compound. “Even when visiting a historical site there is harassment, because of people who want to rewrite history.”
[Photo: Wikimedia]