Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Elder of ZiyonMuslim leaders advised worshipers to continue to stay away from the Temple Mount on Tuesday, even after Israel removed the metal detectors and security cameras that touched off a boycott of the holy siteHaaretz adds "The Waqf said that their position was to reject outright any change, including technological measures, or measures taken by Israel after the attack on the Temple Mount, in which two Israeli policemen were killed."
The Waqf Islamic trust, which administers the site, said a decision to continue the boycott was pending a review of the new Israeli security arrangements there.
Ikrema Sabri, the head of the Supreme Islamic Committee in the city, said such a review might be completed later on Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s security cabinet said it would replace the metal detectors with “advanced technologies,” referring reportedly to cameras that can detect hidden objects, but said the process could take up to six months.
Sabri told The Associated Press that “our position is that for now, nobody should enter” the shrine.
A Waqf official told The Times of Israel that they are continuing the boycott of the Temple Mount until all security measures added after the attack are removed.
The official noted that “the new high tech cameras” would not be accepted in place of the metal detectors.
Arab media reports that the afternoon services were again being held outside the gates.
The Waqf had two major victories this week. One is that they forced Israel to back down on a critical security measure that can save lives - because they showed that to them, human lives aren't as important as their own self aggrandizement. If they riot and kill and attack Israeli police and get killed, it is all worth it because their own honor is enhanced.
The second victory is no less important to the Waqf. They successfully bullied their own people into staying away from their "third holiest site" even though the site was open to them. If supposedly fervent Muslims would have decided that worshiping at their holy site is more important than Waqf politics, then the Waqf would have become irrelevant as the supposed guardians of the site. It was hugely important to them to threaten anyone who wanted to go through the gates (even though the Al Aqsa Mosque itself remained closed.)
Now, the question is whether they will overreach, and continue to impose their ban on Muslims worshiping at the site in order to try to gain more concessions from Israel and enhance their own pride. A lot will depend on how Jordan and other Arab nations respond to the Israeli conciliatory moves.
Meanwhile, there is another Zionist plot to deal with:
A Times of Israel correspondent outside the compound said worshipers were remaining outside and police and Palestinian protesters were gearing up for another tense round of afternoon prayers in Jerusalem’s Old City.Those salacious Jews, always coming up with new ways to humiliate virtuous Muslim women.
Some 100 worshipers gathered next to the Lions Gate, outside of where the metal detectors had stood, in preparation for the prayers which they said would again not take place on the Temple Mount in protest of security measures.
Salah Abu Agrafa, who came for prayers with his two young sons, told The Times of Israel that the new security arrangements “defiled the holy site,” and he would only go on the Mount once the Waqf decided it was okay.
“This is not a victory for us,” he said. “They took away the metal detectors, but they replaced them with X-ray cameras that can look at our women naked.”
You don't need X-ray cameras, Salah! You can see through your women's clothes today! And I bet that lots of the types of Muslims who grope their covered women in crowds in Egypt and elsewhere already have these cameras and eagerly peer behind the burqa.
