PA: What is “Zionist ISIS-ism”? Israeli MPs visiting the Temple Mount
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
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Jewish Israeli MPs "defile" Muslim holy sites, says Abbas' antisemitic advisor: l Allowing Israeli MPs to visit the Temple Mount is "Zionist ISIS-ism"
Abbas' antisemitic advisor Al-Habbash responds to permit for Israeli MPs to visit the Temple Mount:
- Lifting of the ban is "bullying, arrogance, and Zionist ISIS-ism"
- "The prime minister [Netanyahu] of the extremist right in the occupation state has committed a complete war crime against the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, and particularly at the Al-Aqsa Mosque"
PA Minister of Religious Affairs Ida'is:
"The excavations that the occupation institutions are conducting underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque... are advancing in a systematic and planned manner up to the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the establishment of their alleged Temple"
Abbas' advisor on religious affairs said that the presence of Jewish Israeli MPs in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, "defiles" the Islamic holy sites and in particular the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rescinded his previous ban on Israeli Parliament members visiting the Temple Mount - which had been in place for nearly three years as a precaution against violence - and allowed them to visit once every three months.
According to PA Supreme Shari'ah Judge and Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Netanyahu's decision is no less than a "war crime" and the presence of Jewish Israeli MPs at Islamic holy sites constitutes "defilement":
"The prime minister of the extremist right in the occupation state [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has committed a complete war crime against the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, and particularly at the Al-Aqsa Mosque...
The prime minister of the occupation state is engaging in bullying, arrogance, and Zionist "ISIS-ism" against the members of our people and its holy sites, both in Jerusalem and Hebron, by giving relief, support, and protection to the break-in campaigns of the extremist Jews into the holy sanctuaries in Jerusalem and Hebron, to [the sanctuaries'] defilement, and to the attack on the Muslim worshippers, who have the right to manage their holy sites with complete freedom and without the interference of the tyrannical occupation authorities."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2018]
Al-Habbash further threatened that "a continuation of the crime mentality led by the occupation government will drag the entire region and the world into a religious war whose results will be disaster for everyone."
In a later statement, Al-Habbash repeated his antisemitic accusation, claiming that "the series of Israeli crimes against the holy sites has severely escalated due to occupation [Israeli] Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu's decision to allow the Israeli Parliament members to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas and defile them."[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 11, 2018]
A similar statement by Abbas in 2014, when he claimed Jewish presence on the Temple Mount was "defiling" the Islamic holy site, and called on Palestinians to "prevent them in any way," launched a terror campaign in which 12 Israelis were murdered in the following month. Abbas' call was broadcast again repeatedly by PA TV and radio in December 2017.
In his recent protest to Jews visiting the Temple Mount, Al-Habbash further repeated the PA's baseless claim that Israelis and Jews have no history in "Palestine" and no connection to its holy sites:
"The occupation state is attempting to invest efforts through all its branches - the security, political, and religious branches - in order to establish a false racist reality at the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine, but this is in vain because their false narrative lacks historical, heritage, and cultural facts in Palestine."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 11, 2018]
In addition to the antisemitic statements regarding Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, PA leaders also repeat the libel that it is Israel's intention to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to clear the way for building "the alleged Temple." This claim was repeated earlier this month by two senior PA officials:
PA Minister of Religious Affairs Yusuf Ida'is said that "the excavations that the occupation institutions are conducting underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sic., Israel does not excavate under the Temple Mount -Ed.) ... threaten its structures, plazas ... [and] he noted that this requires a Palestinian, Islamic, and international position appropriate to the violations, which are advancing in a systematic and planned manner up to the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the establishment of their alleged Temple."[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2018]
PA Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman Muhammad Hussein similarly claimed that "the occupation authorities are pretending to search for the foundations of their alleged Temple, and emphasized that this is becoming most dangerous for the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2018]
The following are longer excerpts of Al-Habbash's antisemitic statements quoted above:
Headline: "National condemnation of Netanyahu's decision to allow Israeli Parliament members to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque... Al-Habbash: Zionist ISIS-ism"
"Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas'] advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said yesterday [July 4, 2018] that 'The prime minister of the extremist right in the occupation state [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has committed a complete war crime against the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, and particularly at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.'
In a press statement, Al-Habbash viewed Netanyahu's decision to allow Israeli Parliament members to invade the plazas of the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and defile them (i.e., he lifted his ban on visits; see note below) - in a step that transgresses all of the international laws - as 'an outrageous and insolent violation against the resolutions of one of the UN's most important organizations - the [UN] Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which determined in more than one resolution that the Noble Sanctuary is a site for Muslims only, that no one but them has a right to the site, and that it is an Islamic heritage and culture site and nothing else'...
The supreme Shari'ah judge said that 'The prime minister of the occupation state is engaging in bullying, arrogance, and Zionist "ISIS-ism" against the members of our people and its holy sites, both in Jerusalem and Hebron, by giving relief, support, and protection to the break-in campaigns of the extremist Jews into the holy sanctuaries in Jerusalem and Hebron, to [the sanctuaries'] defilement, and to the attack on the Muslim worshippers, who have the right to manage their holy sites with complete freedom and without the interference of the tyrannical occupation authorities.'
Al-Habbash warned that 'A continuation of the crime mentality led by the occupation government will drag the entire region and the world into a religious war whose results will be disaster for everyone.' He warned Netanyahu not to be deceived by the prevailing situation of inertness and internal disputes in some of the Arab and Islamic states, or by the American administration's criminal decisions against Jerusalem, into passing a criminal policy against the members of our people and their holy sites."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2018]
The article's mention of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision regarding the Temple Mount refers to a move in early July 2018, when Netanyahu rescinded his previous ban on Israeli Parliament members visiting the Temple Mount - which had been in place for nearly three years - and allowed them to visit once every three months.
Break-in/Invasion/attack of Al-Aqsa Mosque - The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, they vilify any presence of Jews on the mount as an "invasion." It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of violence by Palestinians.
UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) passed a resolution in Paris on "Occupied Palestine" on Oct. 13, 2016, with 24 countries voting in favor, 6 against, and 24 abstentions. The resolution was later approved by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee on Oct. 26, 2016, in a secret ballot in which ten countries voted in favor of the resolution, two opposed, eight abstained, and one country, Jamaica, was absent.
In the resolution UNESCO refers to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, only as "Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif," and presents it only as a "Muslim holy site." The resolution condemns "escalating Israeli aggressions" and Israeli "violations" at the site, and calls on Israel "to respect the integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage of Al-Aq?a Mosque/Al-?aram Al-Sharif... as a Muslim holy site of worship." The resolution likewise refers to the Western Wall Plaza as the "Al-Buraq Plaza 'Western Wall Plaza,'" adding quotation marks to the Jewish name for the site.
The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan.
The countries voting for the resolution were: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam.
Those voting against it were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, the UK, and the US.
Mexico later noted for the record that its position on the issue is one of abstention, although the vote count was unaffected.
Headline: "Al-Habbash: Those who do not hold any historical truth in our land will never obtain it through forgery"
"Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas'] advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that 'The occupation state is attempting to invest efforts through all its branches - the security, political, and religious branches - in order to establish a false racist reality at the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine, but this is in vain because their false narrative lacks historical, heritage, and cultural facts in Palestine.
In response to a group of extremist settlers engraving what is called 'the Ten Commandments' on the stones of the holy site of Hebron (refers to unconfirmed Palestinian reports that Jews engraved the Ten Commandments on a door of the Cave of the Patriarchs -Ed.), Al-Habbash said that this attack is considered a dangerous escalation in the series of daily attacks against the holy sites in Jerusalem and Hebron. This crime represents theft and forgery of our Islamic-Palestinian heritage at our holy sites and our mosques in broad daylight.
He added that the series of Israeli crimes against the holy sites has severely escalated due to occupation [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to allow the Israeli Parliament members to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas and defile them (i.e., he lifted his ban on visits; see note below)."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 11, 2018]
Headline: "Ida'is and the [PA] mufti warn that the excavations underneath the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque are disastrous"
"[PA] Minister of Religious Affairs Yusuf Ida'is said that the occupation's actions in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are a dangerous violation... the last of which being the excavations that the occupation institutions are conducting underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sic., Israel does not excavate under the Temple Mount; see note below -Ed.). He added that these excavations threaten its structures, plazas, and the lives of the members of our people who visit it...
Ida'is emphasized the severity of the recent developments in the Israeli violations against the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He noted that this requires a Palestinian, Islamic, and international position appropriate to the violations, which are advancing in a systematic and planned manner up to the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the establishment of their alleged Temple...
On the same matter, [PA] Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, [and Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman] Muhammad Hussein warned that the excavations that the occupation authorities are conducting in the region of the Umayyad palaces... are disastrous. He predicted that all of the Islamic structures in the region would be undermined, and afterwards would be destroyed in order to change the holy city's identity and completely Judaize it. Mufti Hussein noted in a statement yesterday [July 17, 2018] that the occupation authorities are pretending to search for the foundations of their alleged Temple, and emphasized that this is becoming most dangerous for the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2018]
Excavations under the Temple Mount - The Israeli daily Haaretz has stated that the excavations do not reach beneath the mosque: "Despite complaints from the Islamic Movement and Palestinian groups, not a single dig penetrates beneath the [Temple] Mount." [Haaretz, May 24, 2016]
Abbas' antisemitic advisor Al-Habbash responds to permit for Israeli MPs to visit the Temple Mount:
PA Minister of Religious Affairs Ida'is: