RSS
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.
RSS
Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the midst of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington, US, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty.”
The kingdom said it valued “brotherly” states’ rejection of Netanyahu’s remarks.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday’s shock proposal from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Arab states have roundly condemned Trump’s comments, which came during a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza war that Israel has been waging against the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the narrow strip.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalizing ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The post Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.
The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
The post Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home
Relatives hug a released Thai hostage, who was kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and held in Gaza, as the hostages arrive in Thailand following their release, at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan, Thailand, February 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
When Surasak Rumnao, 31, left his home in Thailand’s rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in October 2023.
He and four others were reunited with their families this weekend after their release from captivity in Gaza.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted more than 250 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, in their October 2023 attack on Israel.
During the attack, Hamas terrorists killed more than 40 Thais and kidnapped 31 Thai laborers, some of whom died in captivity, according to the Thai government. Later that year, the first group of Thai hostages was returned.
Surasak’s mother, Khammee Rumnao, was relieved that her son was not mistreated and has returned to his home, about 620 km(385 miles) northeast of the capital, Bangkok.
“He mainly got to eat bread, he was looked after well and was fed all three meals (each day). He got to shower, he was looked after well,” Khammee said, and that he ate whatever his captors had.
Her son does not plan to go back and wants to use the knowledge he gained in his agricultural work in Israel at their home, she said.
His grandparents and other relatives came to their home to welcome him home.
His stepfather, Janda Prachanan, was elated.
“I couldn’t find the words to describe how happy I am, that my son is safe and finally home,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the other returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with tears of joy from their families who were waiting for their arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace … to be standing here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees said. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who met the hostages in Israel after their release last week, expressed relief.
“This is emotional … to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais were repatriated following the October 7 attacks.
The workers primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern region, an area comprising villages and farming communities that is among the poorest in the country.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said a Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Maris said, adding that this includes the bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
The post Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.