Jordan, Palestinians say Jews’ visit to Temple Mount ‘provocation against Muslims’

Jordanian and Palestinian leaders warned that a visit by Jews to the Temple Mount on Tisha b’Av was sacrilegious and a defilement of the holy site.

By: World Israel News Staff 

Jordan’s embassy in Israel sent a protest letter to the foreign ministry after more than 1,000 Jews were allowed to ascend to the Temple Mount Sunday.

According to a report by Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, the letter declared that the Jews who visited the Temple Mount “defiled” the site and were a “provocation” to Muslims throughout the world.

The Jordanian letter claimed that those who visited the Temple Mount were “extremists” and “settlers.” The visit, which was protected by Israel Police, was said to be a violation of international law and conventions that govern Israel as an “occupying force.”

The vast majority of the over 1,000 Jews who entered the site of the Temple Mount Sunday were peaceful. A few were arrested after they attempted to pray on the site, which is forbidden because it is said to be incitement to violence since it angers Muslims.

Yousef Id’is, Palestinian Authority Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs, called for “serious action” to defend al-Aqsa Mosque against Israel’s “sacrilegious schemes and increasing break-ins,” according to the Palestinian Information Center.

Id’is said Muslims nationwide and overseas should “leave no stone unturned” to curb the Israeli break-ins and intensify their presence at al-Aqsa Mosque.

Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan al-Husseini also condemned Jewish groups for “inciting their followers to storm the Aqsa Mosque and perform rituals on its plateaus” to mark the destruction of the “alleged temple,” according to the Palestinian Information Center.

Husseini warned that such action would “add fuel to the fire.”