Israel accused Hamas terrorists of having provoked “an outbreak of violence” in Jerusalem

Israel accused Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups on Sunday of “hijacking the Al Aqsa mosque” to provoke “an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem and violent conflict throughout the country.”

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad extremists entered Al Aqsa early each morning, armed themselves inside the mosque, threw stones and explosives from within. They used it as a basis for inciting violent protests,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said of the riots on the Esplanade of Mosques, which have been repeated on two consecutive Fridays in Ramadan raising tension in the area.

Last Friday's riots left 57 Palestinians injured and those on Friday more than 150 injured after clashes with Israeli security forces.

Lapid insisted that the police response was “measured and proportionate” to the dispatch of between 200 and 300 rioters by “Palestinian terrorist organizations”.

“They do this to provoke, force the Israeli police into the mosque and get them out of there,” the Israeli Foreign Minister said about the situation in the Esplanade of Mosques, controlled by a Jordanian foundation and where Israeli police only enter when security in the area is at risk.

According to Lapid, thanks to the intervention of the Israeli police, more than 150,000 Muslim faithful were able to pray in peace last Friday, after having quelled protests on the Esplanade of Mosques, where more than 800,000 faithful have gone since the beginning of Ramadan.

“If we hadn't removed these rioters, there would have been a disaster. If you don't remove the rioters immediately from the start, that leads to more violence later,” said the minister, who underscored the Israeli government's commitment to maintaining the status quo in the compound.

According to the status quo, in force since 1967, Jordan guards the Esplanade of Mosques, where worship is reserved only for Muslims, while Jews can only enter as visitors and pray at the nearby Wailing Wall.

However, more and more Jewish settlers sneak in to pray in the area where the Second Temple is believed to have been located, something seen as a provocation by the Arab world and the Palestinians, for whom Al Aqsa is part of their national identity, and especially in Ramadan, which this year coincided with the Passover or Passover.

Lapid also condemned these visits by “Jewish extremists”, although he clarified that they are minorities and that Israel cannot control what each Jew does individually, in addition to categorically denying that Israel is planning to divide the compound by religion.

On the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory, six in the last week, the minister insisted that Israel has “zero tolerance” for such practices and threatened to reverse the unimplemented decision to double the number of work permits for Gazans in Israel to 20,000.

For his part, US President Joe Biden accepted on Sunday an invitation from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet to visit Israel in the coming months, during a telephone conversation in which they also addressed violence in Jerusalem and the possible new nuclear deal with Iran.

“The Prime Minister congratulated the president on the occasion of Easter and updated him on his efforts to stop violence and provocation in Jerusalem,” said a statement from Bennet's office, which confirmed that Biden plans to come in the coming months, without specifying the date.

With information from AFP

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