Jerusalem, Intersection of Three World Religions -- Palestinian Terrorism

"It's just a matter of time, and not much time, until we settle the score."

"We acted in Lebanon, we acted in Gaza, we beefed up forces in the field."

"[Israel's response will always] exact a significant price from our enemies."

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu

 

"[IDF warplanes struck] terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas [in Lebanon]."

"The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and hold the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory."

Israel Defense Forces 

Many of the rockets fired from Gaza were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system  Reuters

Friday was a day dedicated to violence in the Middle East with Israel responding to attacks from Lebanon orchestrated by Hamas, leading the Israel Defense Forces to unleash airstrikes both on Lebanon and on the Gaza Strip. Bringing the area alarmingly close to a potential larger conflict following days of violence in East Jerusalem when Palestinian thugs began to put the anticipated Ramadan threats issued by Hamas and Hezbollah into action. 

Among the worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque were young Palestinians who had taken up the incitement urged on by the PA, Hamas, Jordan and Turkey.

Fortifying themselves in the mosque with a collection of stone projectiles and fireworks to challenge the Israeli Police stationed there to ensure an orderly and secure environment at a time when tens of thousands of Muslims customarily attend the mosque for prayers during Ramadan. Barricading themselves into the mosque, lobbing both fireworks and rocks at police, what was to have been peaceful gatherings in prayer during the sacred month was turned into a riot of violence.

Irrespective of the fact that the police reacted to restore order and maintain the safety of innocent people in arresting the thugs, the criticism for desecrating the mosque, Ramadan and those in attendance whose faith was mocked by the rioters, the Islamic world placed blame on Israel for disproportionate use of force in preventing further disruption and possibly severe injuries and death. 

Severe injuries and death did occur, however, at the terrorist hands of Palestinian jihadists targeting civilian Israelis in an ongoing series of violent attacks.

A person wounded in an attack is brought to a hospital in Tel Aviv on Friday. Israeli police said a car rammed into a group of people near a popular seaside park before flipping over. Police also said they shot and killed the driver of the car. (Gideon Markowicz/The Associated Press)

Fighting on Israel's northern and southern borders subsided allowing midday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque to pass peacefully until a Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank killed two Israeli women, injuring their mother, all witnessed by the women's father driving separately behind them.  As well, a large barrage of rockets had been fired at Israel from southern Lebanon, bringing to mind Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In retaliation, the Israeli military sent warplanes to strike Hamas infrastructure after 34 rockets had been sent into northern Israel. The Israeli military pounded weapons production sites and underground Hamas tunnels in Gaza. Israelis living along the southern border were able to return home from safety taken in bomb shelters.Most of the missiles crossing into Israel hit open areas, with one landing in Sderot where shrapnel sliced a house.

After the cowardly attack on the three women driving in the West Bank a Hamas spokesman hailed the death of the two sisters as retaliation "for the crimes committed by Israel in the West Bank and the Al-Aqsa mosque". Over 130,000 Muslims poured into the Al-Aqsa site for midday prayers on Friday, ending without further provocation. 

Before dawn prayers, chaos had once again erupted at an entrance to the esplanade as Israeli police coped with Palestinian worshippers chanting slogans praising Hamas. Soon afterward people leaving the prayers staged a protest on the courtyard, raising fists and shouting imprecations against Israel. Security forces entered the compound after prayers, responding to masked suspects throwing rocks at officers at one of the gates.

The compound, administered by the Islamic waqf and Jordanian officials, condemn Israeli police, while having no comment about the rioters who violently confronted police in clear provocation to elicit a response, in the process trashing the mosque, setting off fireworks within the enclosed space, lobbing rocks from the sacred site, producing an unholy spectacle for Ramadan. 

Elsewhere in Jerusalem's Old City, pilgrims from around the world congregated. Christian faithful retraced the route Jesus is believed to have taken for Good Friday, while Jews celebrated the Passover holiday. The violence imposed on the ancient city by Palestinian terrorists in a sacrilegious display of violence led Israel to appeal to the international community to condemn the rocket fire from Lebanon and Gaza and Hamas's incitement to violence.

Masked militants from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, perform Friday prayers in Jebaliya City, northern Gaza Strip, on Friday. (Adel Hana/The Associated Press)

 

The Holy Month of Ramadan in Israel

“Once again, extremists have hijacked the holy month of Ramadan. Once again, young thugs are shooting fireworks at police out of the third-holiest mosque in Islam. Once again, terror groups seek to leverage this into a broader confrontation with Israel."

"And once again, such behavior has gone uncriticized by moderate Arab states like Jordan. This pattern brings the region to the brink of war each year, with Ramadan wielded cynically as the predicate.”  Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research, Federation for Defence of Democracies

 

“Palestinian extremists are once again inciting to violence at sensitive religious sites during Ramadan and Passover."

"They seek to take advantage of a pre-established media and political narrative that refuses to acknowledge a clear causal connection between the violence and reasonable Israeli security steps to constrain it."

"This framing not only misleads readers but fans the flames, with dangerous consequences for the people of the region.” 

Mark Dubowitz, CEO, Federation for Defense of Democracies

Police respond to Palestinian riots on Temple Mount, Israeli officer injured

"Several law-breaking youths and masked agitators [fortified the mosque] in order to disrupt public order and desecrate the mosque."  

"After many and prolonged attempts to get them out by talking to no avail, police forces were forced to enter the compound in order to get them out with the intentions to allow the Fajr [dawn] prayer and to prevent a violent disturbance." 

"When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators." 

Israeli Police report

Scores of Palestinians were arrested at Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli police early Wednesday in Jerusalem's Old City. Stun grenades were fired while Palestinians hurled rocks and fireworks, a burst of violence not entirely surprising given the tensions built up over the past months with Palestinian random attacks against Israelis increasing in numbers as a lead-up to Ramadan. In Gaza Palestinian terrorists attacked southern Israel with rocket fire, and repeated Israeli airstrikes ensued.

 

Muslims are marking their holy month of Ramadan, a time for introspection, prayer and sobering thought. It has also become a month of threats against Israel followed by violence, a ritual not entirely in keeping with the purpose of the holy month. Just as Jews in Israel and around the world were preparing for the onset of Passover, incitement to violence by Palestinian leadership led to frenzied activity on the Temple Mount around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

 

Young Palestinian men were once again assembling rocky projectiles within the mosque, along with fireworks with the intention of attacking the Israeli Police whose function is to maintain calm and security during this time when thousands of Muslim worshippers are expected to throng to prayer at the mosque. The Palestinian militants barricaded themselves in the mosque while throwing rocks and fireworks at the police, preventing peaceful Muslims from either entering or exiting the mosque.

 

Al-Aqsa Mosque interior, Reuters

By morning, calm prevailed on the compound and shortly afterward it was reopened to worshippers. Dozens of Palestinians have time and again attempted to remain overnight in the mosque, barricading themselves within, stockpiling projectiles. Nightly, police entered to evict them. Palestinian terrorist groups gave warning of additional confrontations on the way. 

 

Medics of the Palestinian Red Crescent described 50 people having been injured at the mosque, while Israeli police spoke of 350 arrested. Most of those arrested from Al-Aqsa were released by early afternoon, while 50 remained in detention to have their cases heard on Friday. 

 

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as the IDF launches air strikes on the Hamas-operated Palestinian enclave late April 6, 2023   Mohammed Abed/AFP

 

An Israeli soldier was shot and moderately wounded in the West Bank. A total of 34 rockets were fired by Palestinians, with air raid sirens sounding in the region just as residents prepared for the weeklong Passover holiday."We don't want this to escalate, [but] we will respond very aggressively", stated Lt.Col. Richard Hecht, an army spokesman, referring to the intercepted rockets to which the IDF responded with airstrikes hitting Hamas weapons storage and manufacturing sites.