“In the last 10 days, Hamas has de facto occupied the Temple Mount compound,” Maor Tzemach, Chair of the NGO Your Jerusalem, told World Israel News.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
New social media footage from last Friday’s riot at the Temple Mount shows a chaotic scene in which a masked Arab rioter burned an Israeli flag while others waved the flag of the Hamas terror group.
An Arab man, whose face is obscured by a keffiyeh wrapped around his head, is seen setting an Israeli flag on fire as an incensed mob chants anti-Israel slogans.
Supporters of the Hamas terror group are seen openly waving their green flag, while a Palestinian flag hangs on an archway behind the mob.
The news of the Israeli flag being burned at the compound comes on the heels of a Palestinian flag prominently hanging on the Dome of the Rock for a record 10 consecutive days. After widespread public outcry and intense media scrutiny, Israeli security forces finally removed the flag late Sunday afternoon.
On Monday morning, a large Hamas banner depicting a terrorist holding a surface-to-air missile was unfurled at the site.
“In the last 10 days, Hamas has de facto occupied the Temple Mount compound,” Maor Tzemach, Chair of the NGO Your Jerusalem, told World Israel News.
He said that the government “is refraining from taking any serious security action on the Temple Mount. Ten days of demonstrations of incitement and encouragement of terrorism against the State of Israel on the Temple Mount, and the Israeli government is blind to this.”
Tzemach warned that allowing the rioting and protests to continue unchecked will spill over into physical attacks against Israelis.
“As we all know, incitement to terrorism leads to violence,” he said.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Temple Mount NGO Beyadenu, told WIN that “the burning the Israeli flag in the heart of the Israeli capital” is a “humiliating and dangerous act” that was “dangerously and irresponsibly” enabled by the police.
“It’s impossible that on one hand, the police confront Jews who raise the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount, but allows the Israeli flag to be burned… We must not allow such occurrences [to happen] in our country.”
In a previous conversation with WIN, Tzemach warned that the Gaza-based terror group is rapidly growing its presence in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority-controlled cities in Judea and Samaria.
Embattled octogenarian PA president Mahmoud Abbas is wildly unpopular with his constituents, and Hamas has emerged as a more popular option among Palestinians, Tzemach said.
“The real Palestinian elections in Jerusalem are happening in the street, and so far the winner is Hamas,” he said.