Muslim Sanctimony

"All of the new Israeli steps on the ground from that date [July 14, when the attack took place] until today need to stop, and then the situation in Jerusalem will return to normal. Afterwards we will continue our work on everything regarding the relations between us and them."
"Since Israel tried to change the situation, the residents of Jerusalem have risen as one. You have objected to all of the steps, and we have supported you in what you have done and what you are doing. We are with you in everything that you have done and are still doing, as you are causing us pride, and you are taking care of your Al-Aqsa Mosque, your land, your dignity, your people, your religion and your holy sites. This is the response to everyone who wants to harm our holy sites. Jerusalem is ours. It is our capital and it is [under] our sovereignty, and therefore what you are doing is right."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

Explosives detectors are to be installed at the entrances to the Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images  From The Guardian, 15 August 2011

Cleverly attributing the mass reaction of Palestinians to a perceived change in the status of their revered Noble Sanctuary and the al-Aqsa mosque compound in violently opposing the Government of Israel's decision to install security cameras and metal detectors for the safety and security of all who access the area -- when it is the incitement of the imams and the Palestinian Authority president himself urging Palestinians not to accede to approaching the complex through the metal detectors that is responsible for the violence -- is typical of Palestinian leadership.

"We reject all the measures that Israel is taking, and we warn against any harm to Al-Aqsa", declared the chief mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Hussein. Palestinians were forbidden from entering the mosque compound through the metal detectors. They were instructed to pray, in their thousands, in a show of defiance, outside on the streets in front of the gates with the metal detectors, rejecting their presence, as they were instructed to do. From that ongoing series of events to violent protests urged on by their leaders matters escalated. 

Israeli security police, aided by videos that captured details of the terrorism that took the lives of two Israeli police stationed at the mosque complex validate that the weapons used had been stored at the mosque complex. The three Palestinian assassins had attacked the Israeli police from the rear. The police were facing away from the mosque, toward the entrance to the mall, anticipating that if problems arose it would be from without, not within. But the assassins approached from within. The Israeli police were shot in the back, to deadly effect.

Clearly this points to the necessity of ensuring that deadly weapons do not, in the future, make their way into the complex to enable Palestinian terrorists to wreak havoc and murder. The deaths of Israelis, whether Jews or Druze, is celebrated as a victory against the oppressive 'occupiers', there to ensure that Israeli citizens remain safe in a volatile hotbed of malignant hatred and deadly violence perpetrated on them by Palestinians infused with the ardour of martyrdom, incited by the PA.

Israeli Border Police stand guard as Palestinian worshipers pray next to the Lions gate of the old city of Jerusalem EPA

Instead of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian religious leaders responsibly condemning the violence, the perpetrators of those violent deaths, themselves killed by security forces responding to their ongoing violent intentions, have been lionized, their families assured that they will be well compensated financially for their sacrifice. Typically, the families of those who kill Israelis, like the mother of the teenage Palestinian who stabbed to death three members of a Jewish family, express pride in their offspring's valour in killing innocent people.

Jordan, whose waqf administers the Noble Sanctuary complex urged Israel to "reopen Al-Aqsa mosque and the Haram al-Sharif (compound) immediately.” The Jordanian government "opposes any harm against Muslims in carrying out their religious worship in their holy places, freely and with no obstacles", warning any attempt "to alter the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem" would not be countenanced. Jordan’s Minister of Waqf and Islamic Affairs, Wael Arabiyat, blamed Israel for the violence, warning of "continued unprecedented harm to the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque…under the pretense of stopping violence."

The Arab League was comfortable in condemning Israel for the violence erupting from the temporary closure while the police investigation was in progress. Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated Israel’s "banning Palestinians from praying"  (no such ban occurred) would "inflame extremism and escalate tension". He spoke of  "the high sensitivity of issues related to religious places", blaming Israel's "carelessness", never pausing to mention the cause.

All these events gave the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the bloc of 57 Muslim nations in the United Nations, the opportunity to criticize Israel, labelling the temporary closure of the site as "a serious crime and a dangerous precedent". Protests were mounted all over the Middle East as well as throughout Europe, with Muslims gathering to sound out their dissatisfaction with Israel's reaction to the terrorist attack on its police. Israel finally reacted by dismantling the metal detectors and cameras at the Temple Mount, stating that "advanced technologies" would be installed for security.

Israeli police officers dismantle metal detectors outside the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, July 25, 2017.  AP

That act of capitulation is, needless to say, viewed as a victory in the Arab and Muslim world order. Empowering and validating. Encouraging further demands. Viewing Israel as weak and fearful. The democracy that is Israel, giving equality to all its citizens results in Arab Israelis elected to the Israeli Knesset agitating endlessly against the very state that has given them citizenship and equality rights.

"It is far more than breaching the status quo. The Israeli government is defiling the mosques. They took advantage of the situation to impose a complete control over the compound... This move is fanning the flames and I see Israel as only the responsible cause of this situation" claimed MK (Israeli parliamentarian) Taleb Abu Arar of the Joint List. "This is our mosque and when we enter it we want to feel that. The Jews have no rights whatsoever to this mosque – it is for Muslims only. We will not accept being checked every time we want to get inside. We are asking to go back to normal and enter freely, as it was three day ago"

As though the murders had not occurred, leading to the need to secure the area. Entirely negating that the area incorporates the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism. Assaulting the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount where Jews are forbidden from praying lest they outrage Muslim worshippers. Characterizing the Jewish presence on the complex representing Judaism's most sacred religious site as a 'defiling' presence.

This sanctimony and slander is typical of Muslims. In Mecca in Saudi Arabia, there are over 700 cameras installed to track the faithful (and only the faithful may enter Mecca) for possible theft, pickpocketing and other criminal or immoral activity. Has anyone protested there? Lieutenant Colonel Fawaz al-Sahafi, who heads the security team at the mosque, informed the Saudi Gazette on an earlier occasion of plans to fit "sophisticated metal and explosive detectors" at the multiple gates at Islam's holiest of holies were under way.

Israeli police officers walk outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, July 25, 2017.