Palestinian Rioters Attack Police on Temple Mount
(Worthy News) – Dozens of masked Palestinian protesters hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at police officers on the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City Sunday morning, before being pushed back into the Al-Aqsa Mosque by security forces who were rushed to the area, the Times of Israel reported.
According to police, the protesters had stockpiled homemade explosives, firecrackers and wooden boards inside the mosque, with the intention of attacking thousands of Jewish worshipers gathered below for prayers at the Western Wall on Tisha B’Av, a fast and day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples.
“Masked rioters fled into the mosque and started to throw stones and blocks at police from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. They threw fireworks directly at police,” a police statement said, adding that a number of police were wounded. [ Source ]
In Honor of Tisha B’Av: Palestinians Say Holy Temple Was Roman
The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership warned of renewed attempts of “extremist settlers” in support of the Israeli government to “break into” the Temple Mount during the Tisha B’Av national day of Jewish mourning (this Sunday), and to “contaminate” the site via their mere presence there.
The Supreme Council for Islamic religious rulings, headed by Grand Mufti of the Palestinian people, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, said in a statement Friday that “extremist Jews” who enter the compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount “defile” the holy place and may lead to a religious war.
The statement emphasized that despite Israel’s quest to “Judaize” the Mount – which is Judaism’s holiest site and the site of both Holy Temples – the rights to the area are exclusively Muslim. [ Source ]