Jerusalem summons French envoy over proposal for monitors on Temple Mount

Israel is pushing back hard against a French proposal to send international peacekeepers to ensure a status quo on the Temple Mount and that undermines Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem, its capital.

By: Atara Beck, World Israel News

Jerusalem summoned Patrick Maisonnave, France’s ambassador to Israel, on Monday to convey its outrage at the French proposal to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to deploy international monitors on the Temple Mount, AFP reported.

Israeli officials responded in rage on Saturday to a French proposal to deploy international observers on the Temple Mount who would supposedly ensure that the status quo is kept at the holy site, saying that the suggestion was an infringement on Israel’s sovereignty in its capital.

Speaking during the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel rejected France’s draft because of its partiality, as “there is no mention of Palestinian incitement and Palestinian terrorism.

“We’ve seen across the Middle East – in Palmyra, in Iraq, throughout Iraq and elsewhere how the militant Muslims blast each other’s mosques to the sky. We’ve just seen it in a Jewish holy site, Joseph’s Tomb. Only Israel, Israel alone, is the guarantor of the holy sites on the Temple Mount,” he clarified.

“Israel will protect the holy sites, will guard the status quo. Israel is not the problem on the Temple Mount. Israel is the solution,” the premier stated.

Netanyahu also instructed National Security Council (NSC) head Yossi Cohen and the Foreign Ministry to lodge a complaint with the French and protest the “biased and baseless” language of the initiative.