Here was the scene this morning in Judaism's holiest spot.
120,000 Muslims arrived and worshipped.
But the coverage in Arab media this year is different. It spends more time describing the restrictions than the crowds.
This year, there are still huge throngs visiting Al Aqsa. This year like last, there are restrictions on young men visiting from the West Bank. This year like last, there is a large Israeli police presence to ensure no violence and to maintain order.
This year, like every year, the numbers of worshippers would overfill nearly every sports stadium in the world.
And stadium security is far more restrictive.
Wafa, the official Palestinian Arab news agency, sets the tone for all other Palestinian media, who often just copy their stories. They report three contradicting stories.
Thousands of our people performed the second Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, despite the strict and unprecedented Israeli occupation measures imposed on the Holy City and its surroundings.The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said that 120,000 worshipers performed the second Friday prayer of the month of Ramadan today in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque .The preacher of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Khaled Abu Jumaa, confirmed that our people are committed to their land and will foil all plans to displace and destroy them .He stressed that Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain a purely Islamic mosque with all its prayer rooms and courtyards, and that our people, by attending prayer in the mosque, overthrow the occupation’s plans to Judaize it and the city of Jerusalem .
The three stories are:
Huge numbers of Palestinians attend prayers.Israel stops huge numbers of Palestinians from attending prayers.The huge numbers prove that Israel doesn't control the holy site that they restrict so many from attending.
The real story is that Israel controls the holy site. As in every other holy site worldwide, it puts lots of effort into security to ensure orderly prayer and crowd control. And despite Israel being a Jewish state, it allows 120,000 Muslims to pray on Judaism's holiest site (a number that will increase in coming weeks.)
That is the story that the Arab media, and world media, does not want you to hear.
