A Palestinian media watchdog reported Wednesday that official Palestinian Authority TV is “libeling” Israel by falsely claiming that Israeli wartime restrictions at Al-Aqsa mosque are intended to facilitate an extremist Jewish Passover sacrifice.
Israel’s across-the-board ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people out of security concerns went into effect following the outbreak of war in Iran on Feb. 28.
But an inflammatory report on Monday on official P.A. TV said that the limitations were geared to enable Jews to carry out a Passover sacrifice at the Jerusalem holy site, which has long been a tinderbox in the Middle East.
“The Jerusalem Governorate emphasized in a statement that what is being done [against Al-Aqsa] is not within the framework of temporary security measures as claimed by the occupation authorities, but rather constitutes part of a political and ideological process seeking to change the religious, historical and legal reality of the holy compound at the Temple Mount (Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Al-Sharif),” the TV presenter said in Arabic, according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch.
“Exploiting the fact of the continued closure of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gates of the Old City for ten consecutive days now, during the month of Ramadan, under the pretext of the security situation, extremist Temple organizations have launched awareness campaigns, with the aim of carrying out what is called the Passover sacrifice inside the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque [i.e., the Temple Mount]. These campaigns include calls to sacrifice an animal on the Jewish Passover holiday inside Al-Aqsa Mosque this year ... within the framework of unprecedented developments for the conquest of Jerusalem,” the reporter added. “This step is considered a dangerous escalation and an attempt to establish new facts on the ground at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, told JNS on Wednesday, “Claiming that Israel and Jews want to have a sacrifice on the Temple Mount, which in their eyes is a desecration of the mosque, is an outrageous libel and the worst terror incitement.”
He added, “The Palestinians identify as religious Muslims much more than they identify as Palestinians and if they believe there is a desecration of the mosque, it will push many people who are potential terrorists to consider terror attacks.”
The Israeli High Court of Justice has long rejected petitions to carry out Passover sacrifices near the Temple Mount, citing a threat to security and the inflammation of religious tensions. Israeli police have also intervened to prevent a Jewish group from carrying out such practices.
