PA daily op-ed: “[US Amb.] Friedman's going into the field in order to destroy the foundations of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem's historical and cultural foundation with his own hands”

Excerpt of an op-ed by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily

Headline: “Friedman’s hammer exposes Kushner’s hypocrisy”

“Washington is Judaizing occupied Jerusalem with its own hands, through [US] Ambassador [to Israel David] Friedman’s hammer. In this way it is placing itself in a confrontation on the ground with the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations. Friedman’s going into the field in order to destroy the foundations of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s historical and cultural foundation with his own hands (Friedman took part in breaking down a wall in order to open and inaugurate the Pilgrimage Road; see note below –Ed.) constitutes an attack on the holy sites, which demands a direct response with all means …

Those who believed [US Presidential Advisor Jared] Kushner’s workshop (refers to US-led conference in Bahrain in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan –Ed.) and his hypocrisy when he said that he is working hard to revive the region economically – [you should know that] the true face of Kushner and [US President Donald] Trump’s administration is Friedman’s hammer. And to those who are rushing to normalize their relations with Israel, we say: Israel will not defend you from Iran, because its main enemy is you, the Arabs. Therefore Friedman’s hammer is destroying the foundations of the Arab nation, and not Iran.

Let every Arab leader, or even every Arab, ask himself: Do I agree to be Friedman’s partner in destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in destroying the Islamic Arab history in Jerusalem? If there is no decisive answer to this, they must announce that they condemn the actions of Trump’s ambassador in Jerusalem, and this is the minimum that is required.”

Pilgrimage Road – US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, US Envoy Jason Greenblatt, and US Senator Lindsey Graham took part in the inauguration ceremony of the Pilgrimage Road underground archaeological site, located south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, on June 30, 2019. The excavated road was used by Jewish pilgrims visiting the Second Temple around the first century CE, and the Arab neighborhood of Silwan has since been built above it.

The terms "all means”, "all means of resistance," “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.