Yesterday, Tuesday 7 September, over 130 settlers, including the extremist Yehudah Glick, stormed the courtyards of al-Aqsa Mosque via the Mughrabi Gate. They were under heavy security from Israeli occupation forces, who also arrested a Palestinian in the mosque.
The Ministry of Islamic Endowments, based in occupied Jerusalem (or al-Quds as it is known in Arabic), has said that 131 settlers, including Glick, stormed al-Aqsa Mosque wearing ceremonial clothes and organised tours of the grounds, with the intention of provocation worshippers.
The ministry added that the settlers performed religious rites during the storming of the mosque, including at the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa, provoking guards and Muslim worshipers.
The ministry confirmed that that occupation’s police force arrested Fathi al-Jamal inside the Dome of the Rock after he gave the “takbir”, or the Arabic phrase glorifying god.
Police imposed strict restrictions on Palestinian worshipers’ entry to the mosque and withheld identity cards at its external gates.
The incursions coincide with the call from the extremist Temple Institute group for the mass storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque over Jewish holidays.
The Temple Institute has incited the settlers to storm al-Aqsa Mosque during the Days of Repentance (which span from the end of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year, until Yom Kippur) with the slogan: “break in without fear since the police protect the Temple Mount.”
Over the following days, the group is likely to attempt several such incursions in order to perform mass prayers within the mosque, whilst relying on the support occupation police.
The group has demanded that Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, “allow them to blow the trumpet [an element of the rite] inside al-Aqsa on Tuesday and Wednesday, the days of Rosh Hashanah.”
Al-Aqsa is exposed on a daily basis to settlers’ incursions and violations, which occur at the same time as continuous abuses against Palestinian worshipers, including their arrest and expulsion from the mosque. The frequency of both typically increases during Jewish holidays.
Incursions regularly occur after the Islamic noon prayer via the Mughrabi Gate under the protection of occupation forces, as part of “tours” that are intended to change the fundamental character of al-Aqsa and al-Quds.
