Jordan Hails Palestinian Rioting Against Israelis on Temple Mount

Deborah BrandApril 18, 2022

Jordan’s prime minister on Monday praised Palestinian rioters on Temple Mount for physically assaulting Israelis going to pray at the site, which is Judaism’s holiest.

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh said he “praises every Palestinian and Jordanian Islamic Wakf worker who stands tall like a turret and those who hurl floods of rocks at the pro-Zionists who are defiling al-Aqsa Mosque while under the security of the Israeli occupation government.”

Khasawneh also repeated an unsubstantiated claim disseminated by the Palestinians that Israel plans to divide the Temple Mount into separate areas and hours for Jews and Muslims.

Earlier on Sunday, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador to rebuke him over the “violations” at the site on Sunday when Israel allowed security forces to enter.

In a phone call between Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on the ongoing clashes, the two “stressed the need to cease all illegal and provocative Israeli measures in Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to a statement from the Hashemite Kingdom.

On Sunday, clashes between Palestinian rioters and Israeli security forces erupted as Palestinians tried to stop Jewish worshipers from entering the holy site in a repeat of previous violence.

At #TempleMount today. Tell me again how holy #Ramadan is for Palestinians? pic.twitter.com/gECghcwe80

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 15, 2022

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israeli security forces had “free rein” to take any measure necessary to ensure security for the citizens of Israel, drawing ire from the Arab world.

A total of 728 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Sunday morning, the first intermediary day of the Passover festival, according to the Temple Mount Administration. The flashpoint site, which is Judaism’s holiest as the site of the biblical Temples and the third holiest in Islam, is administered by the Jordanian Islamic Waqf.

According to the Waqf’s current policy, Jews are allowed to visit the site but are barred from uttering prayers — even under their breath or disguised as a sermon — prostrating, or performing any other religious rituals.

Members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group enter a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, on April 17, 2022, during a media tour amid escalating violence with Israel. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Hundreds of masked Palestinian rioters gathered rocks and iron bars to stop Jews from entering. Video footage showed Palestinians hitting Jewish worshipers in the head on their way to pray. Palestinians are heard chanting slogans in support of Hamas as well as chants of “with our souls and blood, we will redeem you, O Aqsa.”

Rioters also threw stones at public buses, smashing windows and wounding passengers. Police arrested nine rioters.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “Israel’s measures to change the status quo on the Mount are a dangerous escalation. Israel bears full responsibility for the consequences of the current escalation that is thwarting efforts invested to bring about calm.”

“The Israel Police has no right to organize visits by non-Muslims there. Only the Muslim Waqf does,” the ministry added.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the U.S. to intervene.

Supporters of the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad group rally after Friday prayers in Khan Yunis in the Southern Gaza Strip, to express support for the Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 15, 2022. (SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

“The [Biden] administration must break its silence in the face of this aggression that threatens to burn the region,” a statement from his office read. “The international community must intervene immediately to provide protection for the Palestinian people.”

Abbas also called on Palestinians to flock to al-Aqsa Mosque in order to “defend it.” He added that any escalation that occurred would be Israel’s fault.

As the Times of Israel notes, the rock-throwing “defenders” who clashed with Israeli security forces in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque had their shoes on, violating Islam’s requirement of removing shoes upon entering a mosque.