Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is accusing the terrorist group Hamas of having orchestrated recent unrest at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site following days of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, also known as al-Haram al-Sharif, is regarded as the third-holiest site in Islam and an emotional symbol for the Palestinians.
However, given that it sits on a sprawling esplanade that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount—the holiest site in Judaism—the area has long been contested by Israelis and Palestinians, leading to numerous clashes.
Tensions over the area have been further heightened this month in part due to the Muslim month-long Ramadan festival, which coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover, which creates an influx of Muslim and Jewish visitors to the compound.
“Hamas and Islamic Jihad extremists burst into Al-Aqsa mosque in the early mornings, again and again. They brought weapons into the mosque. They threw rocks and explosives from within it and used it as a base to incite violent riots.
“It is not Israel that endangered worshippers—it is the terrorist organizations who endangered them.”
While Jews are allowed to visit the compound under longstanding agreements, they’re banned from praying, although The Associated Press reported that an increasing number of Jewish extremists have begun to violate those rules in full view of Israeli police, leaving Palestinians fearing that it’s part of a wider Israeli plot to take over or divide the site.
Lapid was responding to criticism that Israeli police used heavy-handed tactics to shut down the recent clashes at the site when he accused Hamas of being behind the unrest on April 21.
He also stated that Israel is “committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount,” while rejecting claims that Jewish extremists have violated the longstanding agreements regarding the ban on prayers.
“Muslims pray on the Temple Mount, non-Muslims visit. There is no change. There will be no change,” Lapid said.
“We have no plans to divide the Temple Mount between religions. We call on Muslim moderates, on Muslim states, to act against this fake news, and to work together with us to ensure our common interest: preservation of the status quo and calming the situation.”
He added that Israel has ensured that “hundreds of thousands of Muslims” are able to visit Temple Mount and pray at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, “despite provocations by terrorist organizations,” while noting that a Hamas rally had taken place at the holy site over the weekend in which “Hamas terrorists stood there and openly called for the murder of Jews.”
“That is Hamas’s prayer—an anti-Semitic call for the slaughter of innocents,” he said.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum blamed Israel for the violence, saying in a statement that “the one who bears full responsibility for detonating the situation in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque is the occupation government.”
