An annual provocative march celebrating Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem erupted right into a show of nationalist hostility, as members chanted dying to Arabs and paraded by Muslim neighborhoods, provocative acts that sparked widespread condemnation.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complicated in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday to mark the Israeli occupation of the town, triggering a wave of condemnations.
“There are actually a large number of Jews flocking here, and it’s a joy to see this,” Ben-Gvir mentioned in a video of him contained in the mosque complicated.
“Today, Jews can pray and prostrate here. We thank God for that,” he mentioned.
The extremist minister was joined by a number of Israeli ministers, together with Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf, and Knesset member Yitzhak Kroizer.
“(We are) praying for the success of the new Shin Bet chief (David Zini), may he pursue our enemies, crush our enemies, as he has done throughout his years – to be professional and distinguish between enemy and friend. We embrace friends, we crush enemies,” he mentioned.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Ben-Gvir’s raid, saying the intrusion was a part of “the genocide, displacement, Judaization, and annexation to which the Palestinian individuals are subjected.
It referred to as for “urgent international action” to halt the Israeli violations instantly and to take the mandatory measures “to protect the Palestinian people from the aggression of the occupation army and settlers.”
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas decried Ben-Gvir’s intrusion as a “determined try by the (Israeli) occupation to implement the entire Judaization of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In an announcement, Hamas burdened that the Palestinian individuals will proceed to defend the mosque and “will not allow the Zionist schemes for its division or Judaization to pass.”
The preacher of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, lamented the dearth of motion to the continued Israeli violations.
“The far-right has taken control of the Israeli government and has begun attacking Al-Aqsa without restraint,” he mentioned in an announcement.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque is suffering from a stifling siege, with worshippers prevented from reaching the site,” Sabri mentioned.
“This is a policy aimed at emptying the mosque and restricting the movement of Jerusalemites. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers are facilitated and protected militarily, in a clear demonstration of official bias and support for attacks on the site.”
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli minister’s intrusion as a “flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo (of Al-Aqsa Mosque), and of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”
A ministry assertion burdened that such intrusions is not going to “alter the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city over which Israel holds no sovereignty.”
Monday’s intrusion was the seventh by the far-right minister into the Al-Aqsa complicated since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities in 2022.
More than 1,500 unlawful settlers have compelled their means into the mosque complicated since early morning underneath police safety to mark the occupation of East Jerusalem, with many performing provocative rituals within the mosque’s courtyards.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures limiting Palestinians’ entry from the occupied West Bank into East Jerusalem.
Palestinians take into account these restrictions as a part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem, the place the Al-Aqsa Mosque is positioned, and erase its Arab and Islamic id.
Since 2003, Israel has allowed unlawful settlers into the flashpoint compound on an virtually day by day foundation apart from Fridays and Saturdays.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest web site for Muslims. Jews name the world the Temple Mount, saying it was the positioning of two Jewish temples in historic occasions.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem throughout the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed your complete metropolis in 1980 in a transfer by no means acknowledged by the worldwide group.
Some Israeli members additionally entered the grounds of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a neighborhood supply informed dpa on Monday.
They referred to as for the occupation of the compound, in response to the Jerusalem governorate of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Critics accuse organizers of intentionally antagonizing the divided metropolis’s Palestinian group, with tensions particularly excessive amid the conflict in Gaza.
The Israeli parliament handed a legislation banning UNRWA from engaged on Israeli territory and prohibiting Israeli officers from cooperating with the company.
Some marchers shouted “Death to the Arabs” in response to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
It is especially far-right youths who’re transferring by Jerusalem’s Old City at current, in response to the report.
Journalists on the scene have been informed they’d not be underneath police safety in the event that they adopted the group.
Eyewitnesses additionally reported assaults on native individuals and Arab outlets.
The march additionally passes by Muslim neighbourhoods, an excessive provocation for Palestinians. Most shopkeepers have closed their outlets.
Palestinians are calling for the Arab-dominated japanese a part of Jerusalem to be the longer term capital of their very own state.
Israeli police mentioned that they had intervened in a number of remoted incidents in Jerusalem’s Old City to forestall violence, clashes and provocations and a number of other individuals have been arrested.
Previous marches have seen violence by younger ultra-nationalist Israelis towards Palestinians.
Source: www.dailysabah.com