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Should Jewish Prayer at the Temple Mount Cause a Religious War?
Palestinian protestors walk around during clashes with Israeli security forces at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City April 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Under Israeli law, Jews have the right to pray on the Temple Mount the same way that Muslims have the right to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that should Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount prompt Muslims to respond with violence and terror, Israeli police have the right to prohibit it.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has taken advantage of this ruling, and whenever Jews go the Temple Mount, especially on important religious days like Tisha B’Av, the PA makes sure to incite violence. The PA has learned that if enough Palestinians respond with violence, it will confirm the necessity of preventing Jews from praying at Judaism’s holiest site in the interest of keeping the peace.
On Tisha B’Av, after a few thousand Jews went to the Temple Mount and some prayed there, the Palestinian Authority was quick to promise a religious war.
Often, when the PA wants violence and terror for its political needs but is fearful of directly inciting terror because it could lead to arrest, it “warns” that the so-called Israeli violations of Muslim feelings will lead to violence and “religious war.”
The following are some examples of the PA’s terror incitement packaged as “warnings” following Jewish prayer today on the Temple Mount.
The Supreme Sharia Judge of Palestine and the President’s Advisor on Religious Affairs and Inter-Islamic Relations, Sheikh Mahmoud al- Habbash, said that the continued invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque [i.e., the Temple Mount Plaza] by the settlers and the extremist Jews will ignite the fire of the religious war, which will consume everything, and the whole world will be consumed by its fire, and not only the Palestinians. .. Jerusalem is an occupied city for all its Islamic and Christian holy places, and that the occupation state has no right to any inch of it. [emphasis added]
The PA’s Jerusalem Governorate said that the fact that extremist Israeli ministers broke into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque today while leading thousands of settlers, held Talmudic ceremonies, and waved Israeli flags inside it is a dangerous crossing of all the red lines … Netanyahu and his extremist ministers are dragging the region into a religious war.
“PLO Executive Committee member and head of the Jerusalem Affairs Department, Adnan Al-Hassini, said … [Israel] is heralding the beginning of the implementation of a meticulous plan led by the extreme racist right in the Israeli occupation government, which prioritizes the demolition of the Holy Plaza of Jerusalem and the construction of a so-called [Hebrew] Temple on its ruins.
In a statement he published today following the break-in of thousands of Israeli extremists… Al-Hassini said that these provocations are part of a religious war … All 144 of its acres (i.e., including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall) are considered a purely Islamic site.
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Should Jewish Prayer at the Temple Mount Cause a Religious War? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.