Knesset Member, Zionist Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa
Firas al-Dibs, head of the Public Relations and Media Department at the Islamic Endowment, said that dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in successive groups and among them was MK Shuli Mualem, for the Jewish Home political party.
Al-Dibs added that Mualem along with the Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Moroccan Gate, under heavy protection by the Israeli forces, who were also deployed across the compound since early morning.
Many of the Israeli settlers performed religious Jewish prayers while in the compound.
Al-Dibs mentioned that Israeli forces and police set up iron barriers at the entrances of the compound and confiscated ID’s of Muslim worshipers before allowing them entry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently decided to lift a ban that would previously not allow Israeli Knesset members, mostly right-wing extremists who support the demolishment of the Islamic site in order to build a Jewish temple instead, to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque once every three months, after incursions were banned since October 2015.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The third holiest site in Islam, it is also venerated as Judaism's most holy place, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
While Jewish visitation is permitted to the compound, non-Muslim worship at Al-Aqsa is prohibited according to an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government after Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
Source: Maan News Agency
