OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Two settlers forcibly entered the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday and performed Talmudic rituals. Eyewitnesses reported that the settlers pushed a guard present at the Qattanin Gate, quickly headed toward the Marwani Prayer Hall, laid down on the ground, and blew the horn before the Israeli police intervened and removed them from the area.
The forced entry of settlers through the Qattanin Gate, along with the blowing of the horn, is seen as a dangerous precedent in Al-Aqsa, as these incursions are typically prohibited on Fridays and Saturdays, taking place through the Mughrabi Gate.
The occupation authorities had prevented hundreds of Palestinian young men from entering Al-Aqsa to perform the Friday prayer and assaulted them.
A serious incident with significant implications
In his remarks, researcher Ziad Ibhais described the incident as serious, carrying many implications, especially since it was the second occurrence of horn-blowing. He told the Palestinian Information Center that this incursion represents a practical renewal of a demand made by Temple organizations in a letter to National Security Minister Ben Gvir in January 2024, which included calls to open Al-Aqsa for settler incursions on all days of the week, as currently, incursions are barred on Fridays and Saturdays.
He pointed out that the settlers wore religious items ranging from prayer shawls to hats and fabric appendages, all visible to the occupation police, which imposes the use of Torah-related items in Al-Aqsa. He emphasized that Temple groups focus on the idea that Islamic considerations do not take precedence over Jewish considerations in Al-Aqsa, and by invading Al-Aqsa on the second day of the Hebrew New Year, which coincided with Friday, the settlers aimed to reinforce this message, similar to previous incursions during Eid al-Adha in 2019 and the 28th of Ramadan, which ignited the Sword of Jerusalem battle in 2021.
Ibhais noted that before the Friday prayer, the occupation police prevented thousands of worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa and renewed the siege that began this time last year and extended until Ramadan. He confirmed that, given their attire, the occupation police could have distinguished the settlers in the alleys of the Old City and prevented them. Their claim that the settlers “pushed the police” and entered is false and ridiculous, and their subsequent arrest after reaching the Marwani Prayer Hall is merely a form of securing protection and exit.
In summary, Ibhais concluded that this incursion, with all its meanings, occurred under the sponsorship of the occupation police, with their full prior knowledge and partnership in the project to change the identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and attempt to transform it into a temple.
Despite restrictions, thousands perform Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa
Tens of thousands of Palestinians performed the Friday prayer at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite the tightening and obstacles imposed by Israeli occupation police, which prevented hundreds from entering the Old City of Jerusalem. The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem reported that 40,000 worshippers prayed at Al-Aqsa and performed prayers for the souls of the martyrs in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Occupation police forces assaulted worshippers at the Lions’ Gate to prevent them from entering the Old City and reaching Al-Aqsa for Friday prayer. They prevented hundreds from entering the Old City through the Lions’ Gate after erecting iron barriers and deploying forces heavily in the area. They also blocked worshippers from passing through the Majlis Gate, one of the gates to Al-Aqsa, to perform the Friday prayer.
Al-Aqsa is in danger
Research centers and experts on Jerusalem affairs have warned of the dangers of dealing with the Zionist Judaization season of Al-Aqsa, as in previous years, with the logic of annual danger or the usual annual season of assaults on the Mosque, especially as we are now talking about an existential danger threatening the entity, existence, and essence of Al-Aqsa Mosque entirely.
They emphasized that the first Hebrew anniversary of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which will occur on October 24, is of high importance to the religious Zionism that controls the Israeli government. They also asserted that logically, the extremist Temple groups are expected to try to establish this day as a day of revenge for what happened at 6:30 AM on the same day last year when the Palestinian resistance stormed the Gaza Envelope and entered the towns and settlements around Gaza.
