Jerusalem mufti denies Temple Mount ever housed Jewish shrine
The grand mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said Sunday that there has never been a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount, and that the site has been home to a mosque “since the creation of the world.”PMW: PA street named after murderer who stabbed 2 Israeli civilians to death
Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein said in an Arabic interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that the site, considered the third holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews, was a mosque “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago” and has been “since the creation of the world.”
“This is the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Adam, peace be upon him, or during his time, the angels built,” the mufti said of the 8th-century structure commissioned by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
Hussein has held the post of mufti since 2006; he was appointed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He has previously endorsed suicide bombings against Israelis.
He vehemently denied that there has ever been a Jewish shrine atop the Temple Mount, despite rich archaeological and textual evidence to the contrary, including from Muslim sources. The 10th-century Muslim historian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi wrote in his description of Syria and Palestine that “in Jerusalem is the oratory of David and his gate; here are the wonders of Solomon and his cities,” and that the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque “were laid by David.”
Terrorist Muhannad Halabi stabbed and murdered 2 Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennett, and injured Bennett's wife, Adele, and their 2-year-old son in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct. 3, 2015. Palestinian Media Watch has reported that Abbas' advisor honored him for these murders, that Abbas' Fatah movement even brought holy soil from the Al-Aqsa Mosque to his grave and that the PA Bar Association chose to honor Halabi by posthumously awarding him an honorary law degree.Gregg Roman on the 'Inextricable Connection' between Islamists and Hitler
As an additional honor, the municipality where the murderer lived has decided to name a street after him. "This is in order to honor Halabi, who carried out a stabbing and shooting operation (i.e., terror attack) against settlers in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem," the independent Palestinian news agency Donia Al-Watan reported. [Oct. 14, 2015]
"This is the least we can do for Martyr Halabi," Mayor Muhammad Hussein stated about the glorification of the killer, and went on to say that naming the street after him is "intended to emphasize the national role played by municipalities."
Wanting to honor the murderer further, the municipality of Surda-Abu Qash suggested that the mourning "take place in a municipality building, as Halabi is a pride and badge of honor for the whole village."
Middle East Forum director Gregg Roman appeared alongside Mouin Rabbani, a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies, and Sakarya University professor Norman Finkelstein on Al-Jazeera English on October 22 to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial statement that Palestinian Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini contributed to Nazi planning of the Holocaust.10 Things to Know About the Latest Wave of Palestinian Terror
Moderator: Gregg, do you think Netanyahu expected such a backlash?
Gregg Roman: No, but I also think there were several points in Netanyahu's speech that were not factually accurate, like Mr. Finkelstein said. For instance, he said the mufti died in Cairo in 1974 from cancer. He actually died in Beirut. But I think the real element of what we have to look at here regarding the mufti's involvement, not just with the Holocaust but [with] Palestinian and Arab incitement against Jews, is the history of the mufti's meetings with Hitler.
In February 1941, an invitation was extended from Hitler to the mufti in Jerusalem [to come to] Berlin. The meeting didn't take place until November 28, 1941. This is all available in the German foreign record ... The mufti and Hitler met in Berlin. There were four agreements that came to be. And of those agreements, one would be the use of the mufti's propaganda trying to rally Arabs in coming for a Middle Eastern Holocaust that was going to be planned. And this is also part of the historical record.
The current state of affairs in Israel is full of lessons and truths. The sooner we learn them, the sooner we can stop the attacks.
1. We can stop feeling guilty.
A few good things have come out of the recent wave of terror in the streets of Israel. The first is that the facade that jihadis are somehow struggling for self-determination, social justice, or any other noble idea has been unmasked. It is clear to us now that, unlike what we’ve been urged to believe for the last 30 years, jihadis don’t want peace. They want to annihilate Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel. This is great news. Because once the pretense is dropped, we stop falling for it and begin unloading the guilty feeling that we are at fault for everything. We drop the idea, for example, that building in Jerusalem or Judea is causing this war. Those few voices who still try to blame the victims sound delusional and their ideas are being debunked. At the same time, there is a realization that within Israel is a hostile minority that simply does not accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Clarity is forming, and it will lead to victory.
2. The Jewish fighting spirit is back.
The second good thing is that the Jewish fighting spirit is back on the streets. Men and women, old and young, are responding to terror with defiance. Pepper spray, rolling pins, umbrellas, selfie sticks, kicks, fists, running, and especially shooting — Israelis are shooting bad guys (and gals). Yes, there have been some horrific videos of Jews being gouged as though we’re back in a medieval Polish countryside. But even in those videos, soon enough, a gun-toting Jew vanquishes the jihadi zombie. We don’t cower and shriek as they wish we would, and it demoralizes them. Our people’s healthy fighting instincts have (amazingly) not been corrupted by the media, or by the ideology of weakness. Remember: Fighting back is good, so stay tactical out there, folks!