Al Arabiya joins the "storming settlers" meme

On Sunday, a few dozen Jews quietly and respectfully visited the Temple Mount. This happens virtually every weekday besides Fridays.

Usually, it is the Arabic media (especially from the PalArabs, Jordan and Egypt) that freak out and say that "Extremist settler Jews stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque." But this time, the English version of Al Arabiya - one of the more moderate Arab publications - has jumped on the "storming" bandwagon:

Protected by the Israeli police, about 75 Jewish extremist settlers, who were led by a radical rabbi, have stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday, a news agency reported.

The flashpoint compound sits above the Western Wall plaza and houses the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

It is also one of Judaism’s holiest place as Jews believe it is the site of the first and second Jewish temples. Al-Aqsa mosque is also known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary.

“The settlers stormed the complex through Al-Magharbeh Gate, passing through the Qibali and Marawani mosques, as well as Al-Rahmeh and Qatanin gates,” guard Naser Qous told the Turkish Anadolu Agency.

I don't know what they refer to as the Al Rahmeh gate, but Jews are only allowed to enter through the Moroccan (Mughrabi, or Rambam) gate and they generally leave through the Qatanin (cotton market) gate. I doubt very highly that they entered any mosque, as Israeli police would never allow that.

Qous described the rabbi Yehuda Glick, who is the head of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, as shouting “racist chants” against Muslims.

The guard said Glick told the Israeli police: “Keep these vandals away!”

If he indeed said that, which seems unlikely, it was probably because they were trying to "storm" him personally.

The rabbi’s sentiment led to a row between the Jewish settlers and the Muslim worshippers inside the holy compound.

The intrusion was denounced by the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage.

It said that the storming of the complex was meant to “intimidate and scare the Palestinians,” sounding the alarm over the Israeli police “tightening its security procedures on Muslim students within Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.”

Al Arabiya chose to illustrate the story not with photos of the Jews (not "settlers) peacefully walking on the Mount, because that would not work with the hysterical tone of the story. So they dug up a photo of an Israeli policeman arresting a rioter last Friday.

Remember, this is one of the most liberal Arab media outlets