Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) said that the settler incursions into the Aqsa Mosque on this year’s Sukkot Day are more provocative and aggressive in comparison to previous years. In spite of this, there was hardly any official Arab or international reaction, which was confined to a few quiet formal condemnations.
The incursions this year altered the characteristics of the city of Jerusalem and transformed it into a de facto military city, forcing Jerusalemite businesses to close for six days straight while Israeli occupation forces deployed widely to secure the provocative marches by settlers, which also coincided with settler attacks on Palestinian homes.
Since the beginning of 2023, a record number of over 41,000 settlers have celebrated Jewish holidays in Occupied Jerusalem, indicating that settler incursions are becoming more and more intense. Along with political and academic elites, radical rabbis also accompanied the settlers. The settlers also attacked and spat on Palestinian Christians while they were performing Mass. Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir defended the assault by calling it “an ancient Jewish custom.”
These violations and statements demonstrate how deeply ingrained racism is in the minds of Israeli leaders and settlers. They also illustrate the threat that Israel poses to basic human values and its unwillingness to participate in any efforts toward peace based on justice, freedom, and equality as their traditions, “as they claim,” encourage them to denigrate and attack others.
The strange thing is that these horrific attacks were met with a global silence on all international, Arab, Islamic, and Christian levels, as if they acknowledged the status quo and implicitly accepted these crimes. Instead, these attacks occur as relations between Israel and the Arab world become more normalized.
We regret that these incursions come a few days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declared that his country was moving “closer” each day toward reaching a normalization deal with Israel.
While the Israeli Minister of Communications was permitted to perform Talmudic prayers in Riyadh, the Israeli occupation forces were attacking Palestinian worshipers at Aqsa Mosque, violently assaulting women, and arresting a large number of them. This occurred as Ben Gvir sought to reinstate “military rule” and legalise firing at Palestinian protesters.
