Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Arabs still don't know what the Al Aqsa Mosque looks like

Al Khaleej Online, a UK-based news service aimed at Gulf Arabs, has a backgrounder on the "Al Aqsa Mosque" in reaction to Friday's events.

Here is the autotranslated headline and photo:

The photos, of course, are of the Dome of the Rock, not the Al Aqsa Mosque.

In fact, a Google Image search on "Al Aqsa Mosque" in Arabic shows that about half of the resulting photos show the Dome of the Rock instead.

One would think that the supposedly third holiest place in Islam would be better known to Muslims.

(The words on red background say "Special Report," h/t Ibn Boutros)

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07/16 Links: PMW: Fatah calls for violence and “rage” following Friday terror attack; The Arab leadership's failure

From Ian:

Waqf official may have aided Israeli-Arab terrorists in Temple Mount attack — report

Israel Police made a number of arrests in the wake of the deadly terror attack at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Friday morning, which claimed the lives of two Israeli police officers, and officers were on the hunt for additional suspects who may have helped the three Israeli-Arab perpetrators, police said.
Raids were also conducted on the homes of the terrorists, all from the northern Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm, and a mourners’ tent for the terrorists was broken up.
Channel 10 reported Friday that among those detained were at least one official from the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the Jordan-based organization that administers the Temple Mount, on suspicion that the shooters received help from inside.
The channel said the official was seen on security footage behaving suspiciously.
Police also said they arrested one person, a 22-year-old from the northern city on suspicion he was directly involved in the attack.
Police have not indicated what kind of assistance they believe the Waqf official provided, though Channel 10 said he may have helped the shooters stash the weapons used in the attack. A gag order was imposed on further aspects of the investigation relating to the Waqf.

Officers killed in Old City attack are buried, remembered as patriots

Thousands of family members, friends, political dignitaries and others gathered Friday to mourn Border Police officers Haiel Stawi and Kamil Shnaan, who were killed in a terrorist attack near the Old City’s Lions’ Gate.
Stawi, 30, the father of a three-week-old boy, was buried in the northern Druse village of Maghar. Shnaan, 22, the son of former MK Shakib Shnaan, was buried in the nearby Druse village of Hurfeish.
According to police, Stawi enlisted in the Border Police in 2012 and served in the Temple Mount Unit. Shnaan, who reportedly was to wed in a week, joined the Temple Mount Unit seven months ago to become a career officer.
Both men, who were buried within hours of each other, were posthumously promoted to the rank of advanced-staff-sergeant-major.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich, Jerusalem District Police commander Yoram Halevy, senior police officers, ministers, members of Knesset and dignitaries from the Druse community attended the funerals.

IsraellyCool: Shot In The Back For Guarding A Mosque

Israeli police have released a video showing the moments just as the two Israeli Druze policemen are shot just outside the Temple Mount. The most horrifying aspect is that the two policemen were taken completely by surprise because they are facing AWAY FROM THE MOSQUE! They are supposed to be guarding the Temple Mount compound (against what I don’t know). Certainly not against hordes of armed Jews “storming” it!
The murdering terrorists run down from the so-called “Third Holiest Site in Islam” to murder and run back there in a, thankfully futile, attempt to escape justice.
Also remember the terrorists, in this case, do not come from anywhere that can be considered “occupied”. They’re from the Israeli Arab village of Um Al Fahm in northern Israel.
These two brave men were murdered in an act of Islamic terrorism for defending an Islamic holy site. That is what glorifies Allah apparently and furthers the cause of relentless Jihad.

A Kuwaiti MP named Waleed Tabtabaie has tweeted that religious Jews disguised as janitors are entering the Al-Aqsa mosque, and they steal the keys to the Lion's Gate in order to smuggle in whatever they want.

Maybe editions of the Talmud.

As crazy as that is (and Tabtabaie is really crazy) his fans who respond to him show even more craziness.

The usual memes of Jews using this as an excuse to destroy Al Aqsa of course are there.

One shows an old CNN video of Habitat for Humanity building houses in Mississippi for natural disaster victims, thanks to a donation by Qatar. The Arabic captions say that this video is showing Qatar building Israeli settlements!

And many others castigate the Arab League for not declaring war on Israel so the Temple Mount can go back under Muslim control.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Palestinian "Snakes and Ladders" game uses Gaza rockets and tunnels to reach Jerusalem

There is a new Palestinian board game, based on "Snakes and Ladders," with the goal to get to Jerusalem.

Here's what it looks like:

To skip ahead the child can use different types of rockets and tunnels. Israeli tanks and helicopters take the place of "snakes."

The Gazan creator of the game says it teaches children "values." He also says that he consulted with social workers and psychologists to see if the game would have any negative effects on children, but these Palestinian experts all agreed that this is a positive game for children.

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The UNSC condemned Israel for the previous incident where the Temple Mount was closed on a Friday

Israel's closing of the Temple Mount on Friday in response to the murder of two policemen has caused an uproar in the Arab world, although it is a lot more muted than it could have been.

Many are noting that the last time that Israel closed the Temple Mount for Friday prayers was in 1969, after a crazed Australian Christian named Denis Michael Rohan set fire to the pulpit of the Al Aqsa Mosque on August 21 of that year.

The Arab states insisted on a UN Security Council resolution blaming Israel for the incident.

Here is the text:

The Security Council,
Grieved at the extensive damage caused by arson to the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on 21 August 1969 under the military occupation of Israel,
Mindful of the consequent loss to human culture,
Having heard the statements made before the Council reflecting the universal outrage caused by the act of sacrilege in one of the most venerated shrines of mankind,
Recalling its resolutions 252 (1968) of 21 May 1968 and 267 (1969) of 3 July 1969 and the earlier General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V) of 4 and 14 July 1967, respectively, concerning measures and action by Israel affecting the status of the City of Jerusalem,
Reaffirming the established principle that acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible,
1. Reaffirms its resolutions 252 (1968) and 267 (1969);
2. Recognizes that any act of destruction or profanation of the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites in Jerusalem or any encouragement of, or connivance at, any such act may seriously endanger international peace and security;
3. Determines that the execrable act of desecration and profanation of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque emphasizes the immediate necessity of Israel's desisting from acting in violation of the aforesaid resolutions and rescinding forthwith all measures and actions taken by it designed to alter the status of Jerusalem;
4. Calls upon Israel scrupulously to observe the provisions of the Geneva Conventions 1/ and international law governing military occupation and to refrain from causing any hindrance to the discharge of the established functions of the Supreme Moslem Council of Jerusalem, including any co-operation that Council may desire from countries with predominantly Moslem population and from Moslem communities in relation to its plans for the maintenance and repair of the Islamic Holy Places in Jerusalem;
5. Condemns the failure of Israel to comply with the aforementioned resolutions and calls upon it to implement forthwith the provisions of these resolutions;
6. Reiterates the determination in paragraph 7 of resolution 267 (1969) that, in the event of a negative response or no response, the Security Council shall convene without delay to consider what further action should be taken in this matter;
7. Requests the Secretary-General to follow closely the implementation of the present resolution and to report thereon to the Security Council at the earliest possible date.

This Resolution 271 passed, 11-0, with four abstentions from Colombia, Finland, Paraguay and the United States.

The hypocrisy of this resolution that the US allowed to pass is still jarring. The UN was placing responsibility for the actions of a madman on Israel.

Never has the UN said a word about direct Arab attacks on Jewish holy places.

Furthermore, the UNSC didn't say anything condemning Jordan after the assassination of King Abdullah I on the steps of Al Aqsa Mosque, which Jordan responded to by imposing martial law and a full curfew on the Old City of Jerusalem - which it was then occupying and had acquired by military conquest, which seems to be "inadmissible" by the UN only when Jews are the ones who conquer.

Although I can't see it said explicitly, one can assume that prayers were also stopped at the site after that Friday assassination.

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From Haaretz:

So far, the unprecedented decision to shutter the Old City and cancel the Friday prayers on the Mount has been met with relative quiet in East Jerusalem. In Silwan, a Jewish couple and their baby suffered from smoke inhalation after a firebomb was thrown at their car, but this isn't unusual for this neighborhood.

Indeed, firebombs against Jews living in their own homes in Jerusalem aren't unusual. Indeed, they are almost never reported.

Shin Bet reported 121 firebomb attacks in May alone. (h/t Irene)

Now, why is every piece of anti-Arab graffiti given front page treatment but daily attempts to burn Jews are not even mentioned in the media?

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07/15 Links: Why Radiohead is more important than Roger Waters; How Al Jazeera Inspires Terrorists

From Ian:

Alan Dershowitz: So Now American Zionists Want to Boycott Israel

I strongly support greater separation between religion and state in Israel, as Theodor Herzl outlined in his plan for the nation-state of the Jewish People in Der Judenstaat 120 years ago: "We shall . . . prevent any theocratic tendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests [by which is meant Rabbis] within the confines of their temples." It was David Ben Gurion, Israel's founding Prime Minister, who made the deal with the Orthodox Rabbinate that violated Herzl's mandate and knocked down the wall of separation between religion and state. He allocated to the Chief Rabbinate authority over many secular matters, such as marriage, divorce and child custody. He also laid the groundwork for the creation of religious parties that have been a necessary part of most Israeli coalitions for many years.
So, do not blame Israel's current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the recent capitulation. His government's survival depends on his unholy alliance with allegedly holy parties that threaten to leave the coalition and bring down his government unless he capitulated. The alternative to a Netanyahu government might well be far to the right of the current government, both on religious matters and on prospects for peace. Reasonable people may disagree as to whether Netanyahu did the right thing, but I believe that given the choice between the current government and what may well replace it, PM Netanyahu acted on acceptable priorities.
This is not to say that I am happy with the end result. As a post-denominational Jew, I want to see a part of the Western Wall opened to conservative and reform prayer. I also want to see conservative and reform and modern orthodox rabbis deemed fully competent to perform rituals including marriage and divorce. I will continue to fight for these outcomes, and I think we will ultimately be successful. But in the meantime, I will also continue to fly El Al, contribute to Israeli hospitals, attend APAC events, and encourage Americans to support Israel, both politically and financially. To do otherwise is to engage in a form of BDS – the tactic currently employed by Israel's enemies to delegitimate the Nation state of the Jewish people. Supporters of BDS will point to these benign boycotts as a way of justifying their malignant ones. If BDS is an immoral tactic, as it surely is, so too is punishing the people of Israel for the failure of its government to be fully inclusive of Jews who do not align themselves with the ultra-Orthodox.
Tough love may be an appropriate response in family matters, but boycotting a troubled nation which has become a pariah among the hard-left is not the appropriate response to the Israeli government's recent decisions regarding religion. The answer is not disengagement, but rather greater engagement with Israel on matters that involve world Jewry. I, too, am furious about the arrogant and destructive threats of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the current government. I, too, would prefer to see a coalition that excluded the ultra-Orthodox parties. I, too, would like to see a high wall of separation that kept the Rabbis out of politics. But I do not live in Israel, and Israel is a democracy. Ultimately it is up to the citizens of Israel to change the current system. The role of American Jews is limited to persuasion, not coercion. In the end, we will be successful in persuading the Israeli people to take the power of religious, coercion out of the hands of the ultra-Orthodox minority because that would not only be good for secular Israelis – who are a majority – but also for religious Israelis. History has proven that separation of state from religion is better not only for the state, but also for religion.

Ken Loach accused of exempting himself from cultural boycott of Israel

Ken Loach has been accused of seeing himself as exempt from the cultural boycott of Israel that he promotes, after claims that he allowed his films to be distributed in the country without objection.
Loach has vocally condemned artists who perform in Israel as supporting an “apartheid regime” and his long-standing producer insisted it was down to a “mistake” that the Palme d’Or winning I, Daniel Blake is currently showing in Israeli cinemas.
The contentious issue of Loach’s films being screened in Israel emerged after the director’s searing condemnation of Radiohead’s decision to play a concert in Tel Aviv later this month. Loach accused the band of ignoring Palestinian communities and supporting a system of apartheid by refusing to commit to the cultural boycott of Israel.
Rebecca O’Brien, Loach’s producer, said the distribution company Wild Bunch, had done the deal “accidentally” and without the knowledge of Loach or his production company Sixteen Films.
“We have asked Wild Bunch before not to sell to Israel,” O’Brien said. “But what happened this time – and what has happened before – is that during Cannes, things happen very fast and a junior member of the company went and sold it to Israel in the heat of the moment, forgetting we had asked for it not to be sold there.”
Claims that the distribution rights for Israel were sold “accidentally” were however dismissed as “absurd” by Loach’s long-term Israeli distributor Guy Shani, the head of Shani Films and also the owner of Israel’s Lev cinema chain.

How Al Jazeera Inspires Terrorists

The Qatari-funded news network al Jazeera has inspired terrorists world wide, and continues to promote an extremist ideology to viewers, more than 80 percent of whom expressed support for ISIS, according to a new video issued by the United Arab Emirates, one of several Arab countries currently boycotting Qatar over its continued financial support for terror groups.
The UAE and other major Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia have ceased all ties with Qatar until the country fulfills a list of demands that includes cutting ties to terror groups and shutting down al Jazeera, which these nations say is promoting Islamic radicalism across the region and elsewhere.
"Al Jazeera Supports Terrorism," declares the latest video, which is being publicized by the UAE’s foreign ministry.
Al Jazeera has long faced accusations that it promotes terrorism and distorts regional news events, such as the conflict with Israel. Al Jazeera has been caught staging deaths in Egypt and elsewhere and trying to pass off the false scenes as news.
Former al Jazeera employees are currently suing the network over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and allegedly misleading employees about the network’s extremist ties.

07/14 Links Pt2: Canada backtracks on banning Israeli wines; Phillips: Fighters and fainthearts in the free world

From Ian:

Canada backtracks on banning ‘Product of Israel’ labels for West Bank wines

Hours after Canadian food inspectors ordered liquor stores to stop selling wines made in the West Bank, saying their label identifying them as Israeli contravenes Ottawa’s policy on the territory, Canada’s federal food inspection agency backtracked on the decision.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a Thursday statement that it had not “fully considered” the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement in reaching its ruling. The agency said the wines do in fact adhere to the agreement and can be sold as currently labeled.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario said earlier that the inspection agency had notified wine sellers last week that it would be unacceptable to declare Israel as the country of origin for wine products that aren’t produced within Israel’s formal borders. The board issued a letter to its vendors informing them of the decision.
The letter indicated “that ‘Product of Israel’ would not be an acceptable country of origin declaration for wine products that have been made from grapes that are grown, fermented, processed, blended and finished in the West Bank occupied territory.”
The ruling would have extended to wines from “any other territory occupied by Israel in 1967” that carried such a label, which would be “considered misleading,” specifically mentioning the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as the West Bank.
The initial announcement singled out the Psagot and Shiloh wineries, made in settlements outside Ramallah. (h/t zee)

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Blames Powerless, "Low-Level" (and Anonymous) Employee For Israeli Wine Boycott "Mistake"? Call Me Dubious

After an outcry from Israel and Jewish organizations at the local level, the boycott has now been rescinded.
Fine and dandy. But had there been no protest, the boycott would still be in place.
And, sorry, I'm just not buying the story that this was some "low-level mistake." I see something far more purposeful--and insidious--here: Zion-hate infesting Canadian government agencies at the highest levels. (In a way, this is like the sharia-compliant bathing suit story I posted yesterday--some anonymous schlub is blamed for something that advances a particular agenda while higher ups insist that it's all a big "mistake.")

Melanie Phillips: Fighters and fainthearts in the free world

Please join me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Video Network the significance of Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel, President Trump’s speech in Poland and Britain’s bruising Brexit blowback. (noisy fan for the first 20 sec)

WaPo calls the Temple Mount a "Jerusalem mosque complex"

What's with these guys?

It sounds like those Jews (actually, Druze police) were oppressing Muslims again.

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Sometimes, by Friday afternoon, I run out of steam.

Talk amongst yourselves and have a Shabbat Shalom!

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07/14 Links Pt1: Two Druze Police officers killed in Temple Mount terror attack; Amnesty Stands Up for ISIS

From Ian:

Two Druze Police officers killed in Temple Mount terror attack

Two police officers were murdered on Friday morning in a terrorist shooting attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and a third was lightly wounded.
The officers have been identified as Command Sergeant Major Hayil Satawi and Command Sergeant Major Kamil Shanaan.

Satawi, 30, lives in the northern Druze town of Maghar, served his mandatory service in the Border Police and became a career patrol officer in the Temple Mount Unit. He left behind his wife (Arin) and a three-week-old son, as well as his parents and three siblings.
Shanaan, 22, lives in the northern Druze town of Hurfeish, and has served as a career police officer since his enlistment seven months ago as a patrol officer on the Temple Mount and in the Old City's police unit. He is the son of former Labor party member
Shachiv Shanaan. He left behind one brother and three sisters.

Both officers were critically injured and transferred to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, where the doctors were forced to declare their deaths. The officer who was lightly injured was transferred to Shaarei Zedek Hospital, with shrapnel in his hands and neck.
The funeral of Satawi will be held in Maghar at 4:00p.m. Shanaan's funeral will be held in Hurfeish at 6:00p.m.
Initial investigations showed that three terrorists descended the Temple Mount after prayers armed with weapons and walked towards the Old City's Lions Gate. Seeing the police officers, the terrorists fired, then ran back towards the mosques on the Temple Mount.
Police officers chased them and eliminated the terrorists during a shootout. The terrorists were found to have two pistols and a rifle.

Haiel Sitawe, 30, and Kamil Shnaan, 22, named as officers slain at Temple Mount

Speaking to the press soon after the attack, Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich said: “This was a tough morning for the police. We have two people killed, officers, who paid the dearest price in this battle.”
Sitawe, 30, hailed from the town of Maghar, a mostly Druze and Arab city in northern Israel.
Shnaan, 22, was from the Druze village of Hurfeish, also in northern Israel.
Sitawe joined the Border Police as part of his mandatory national service. He joined the Israel Police in 2012 and had served in the unit responsible for securing the Temple Mount ever since.
He leaves behind a wife, Irin, a three-week-old son, his parents and three brothers.
Shnaan joined the police directly after high school. He decided to stay on the police force seven months ago, signing on as a career officer.
He was the youngest son of a former Labor Party Knesset member, Shachiv Shnaan. His engagement party to his girlfriend was to be held next week.
Shnaan leaves behind his parents, one brother and three sisters.
Both Shnaan and Sitawe were posthumously promoted to the rank of master sergeant.

VIDEO: Dramatic new footage emerges of Temple Mount attack

Israel Police have released dramatic new footage of the Temple Mount attack that killed two police officers on Friday.
The video, released on Friday afternoon, shows two of the three attackers, armed with guns, approaching a male police officer and shooting him in the back.
The slain officers were named as Hail Stawi, 30, from Maghar and Kamil Shanan, 22, from Hurfeish, both in northern Israel.
The attackers were identified by the Shin Bet as 29-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Mahmoud Jabarin, Muhammad Ahmed Fadel Jabarin 19, and Muhammad Hamed 'Abd al-Latif Jabarin, 19, from Umm el-Fahm in northern Israel.

'Neutralized' terrorist stands up and is eliminated

'Neutralized' terrorist stands back up to continue shooting policemen and is eliminated before he can fire.

The truth about the "Mughrabi quarter" that Israel leveled in 1967

JCPA has a good article about the slum that Israel razed right after the Six Day War in order to create a plaza for worshipers.

Aerial photo of Jerusalem’s Mughrabi quarter taken by the Graf Zeppelin, 1931. Yellow outline (added) shows the Western Wall prayer area. Note the labyrinth Jewish worshippers had to traverse to get to the small alleyway for prayer at the Western Wall. (Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen)1

Articles published by Reuters and the New Yorker on June 6, 2017, and June 9, 2017, respectively, described the demolition of the Mughrabi, or Moroccan, Quarter of Jerusalem and the eviction of the approximately 650 Arab inhabitants which took place on June 10, 1967, three days after Jerusalem’s reunification.
...These articles blame Israel for the demise of the Mughrabi Quarter when, in reality, there is evidence showing that, prior to the 1967 war and before Israel’s taking control of east Jerusalem, the neighborhood’s days were numbered. Together with the adjacent Jewish Quarter, which had been demolished by the Jordanians, both quarters were nothing more than decaying slums built on rubble. According to Israel’s then-ambassador to the UN, Yosef Tekoah, the Mughrabi Quarter was decrepit, suffering from conditions which “no modern civilized government or municipal administration would have tolerated.”5 Reuters itself describes it as “ramshackle.”

During the 1948-1967 period, Jewish access to the shrine was totally banned; but the pre-1948 situation was hardly tolerable for Jewish worshippers. After navigating through a labyrinth of potentially dangerous, narrow alleyways, Jews wishing to pray at the Wall found themselves in a cramped area of approximately 120 square meters.15 (In contrast, the Al Aqsa complex on the Temple Mount covers 144,000 square meters.) Visitors in the pre-1948 era encountered broken stones, sewage, animals (and the refuse they left behind), and Mughrabi Quarter residents who “had a tendency to harass Jewish worshipers.”16
Immediately after the 1967 war, Jerusalem’s Mayor Teddy Kollek saw that the area near the Western Wall could not contain the tens of thousands of visitors expected for the June 13, 1967, Shavuot holiday. Kollek and military officers gave the order to demolish the area.17 The “first job was to demolish a toilet that was built up against the Western Wall,” according to Haaretz. “You come to a place like this, and you see a stench in the wall,” one worker reported. “We were surprised by it.”18
From a legal standpoint, the demolition of the Mughrabi Quarter and relocation of its inhabitants was justified and necessary by any acceptable standard to ensure public safety and security and to provide tens of thousands of worshippers with a safe, sanitary passage to Judaism’s most holy site, and sufficient public space to worship there.

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Only a few years ago, Hamas was riding high. Hamas leaders traveled around the world acting as, and being treated as, heads of state.

Those days must seem like a dream to them now.

This week the Saudi ambassador to Algeria, Sami bin Abdullah Saleh, called Hamas a terror group and accused its leadership of spending their people's money in five-star hotels in Qatar.

Of course, he is no pacifist. He said that the PLO is the only group with the "right to resistance."

Saleh said this in a televised interview on Algerian TV.

Algerians on social media reacted angrily, defending Hamas.

Hamas reacted more with bewilderment than anger, saying that they had "deep regret and disapproval" about the statements, saying their terror attacks were "legitimate resistance against the Zionist occupation."

"We are surprised with these statements from the Saudi ambassador to the heart of Algeria, a lover of the Palestinian cause and the people of Palestine and the capital of a million martyrs. We call on our brothers in Saudi Arabia to stop these abusive statements by the kingdom considering its history and attitudes towards the question of Palestine and the legitimate rights of our people."

Hamas leadership is smart enough not to burn bridges. After all, they know how quickly fortunes can turn in the Middle East.

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Fatah's reaction to Temple Mount events

This morning, three Israeli Arabs emerged from the Temple Mount where two of them took a selfie (and posted it on Facebook,) shot and killed two Israeli police officers outside Lion's Gate and then ran to the Temple Mount. Police gave chase and shot them dead, one of them dramatically after he played dead and then jumped up and tried to stab them.

In response, Israel closed the Temple Mount to all, the first time that Friday Muslim prayers were banned on the site since 1967.

Here is the autotranslated reaction from Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party:

Fatah appeals to our people: go to the Al Aqsa mosque!

Israeli occupation and systematic Israeli policy to thin out down our people in Palestine and in Jerusalem specifically and to prevent the believers from freely reaching places of worship, and the repeated incursions by settlers into the al-Aqsa Mosque.. that is the origin of the disease. It is the beginning of a cycle of violence that does not stop, which inevitably leads to what we are witnessing in successive episodes of killing the Palestinian men in cold blood without taking into account the sanctity of the place and for the sanctity of life.

The Palestinian position must be morally superior to the occupier, and our people must search for the best ways to defend their land and holy sites, to avoid being dragged into the comfortable circle of Israel. Apart from everything that happened, what is required of our people goes beyond entering into confrontations with the occupier costing us a lot of blood. Without yielding even with what is being paid of the price. What is needed is to mobilize people, especially in Jerusalem, to defend the city and its sanctities and not to leave Israel unique to our people there. [not leave Jerusalem a Jewish-only city - EoZ] The position of Fateh must be officially supported with popular resistance and not to push our youth to search for alternatives who already know that they are fighting an unequal battle with the Israeli killing machine ..

We appeal to the people of our people to come today to the al-Aqsa Mosque and to establish prayer and to break the Israeli siege aimed at changing and character of the holy city..
The masses of our steadfast people! Get to the Aqsa mosque!

This is the first time I recall seeing a public announcement from Fatah explicitly looking for non-violent responses. I would guess that Fatah is sensitive to the effect that videos and transcripts of their incitement has been having on the West and Israel has (finally) been using them to great effect to point out the real source of the problem.

Nevertheless, the statement blames peaceful Israeli actions like allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount, and the reaction of closing the area today, as part of a "cycle of violence." Those actions aren't violent, and Fatah is characterizing them as such to give justification to the murderers and terrorists. Similarly, they are saying that Israel killed the murderers "in cold blood" which is also incitement.

Also it is worth noting that Fatah, nominally a secular party, is urging the politicizing of a supposedly holy place and to use prayer as resistance, not as...prayer.

Furthermore, Fatah posted the selfie that the murderers took at their "holy spot" prior to their murder spree, and referred to them as "the martyrs of Al Aqsa Mosque."

The reactions from Fatah's fans on Facebook are uniformly happy at the attack.

❤
Your morning in heaven the most beautiful ❤❤❤
To the gardens of bliss with the prophets and friends and the martyrs and the good of those companions
You are the honor of this nation and its living conscience because our Arab nation has died of its conscience and gave up its honor to the mercy of God and the heaven that you are
To the gardens of bliss with the prophets and friends and the martyrs and the good of those companions
Glory martyrs
God has mercy on the martyrs
Glory and immortality of the righteous martyrs
To everlasting gardens.
God have mercy on them make their resting place
God have mercy on them
To the gardens of paradise.
Heroes of heroes for you, most of all.
God have mercy on them
God's mercy on your pure souls and to heaven zmrạ
God have mercy on them
May God have mercy on them and accept them martyrs in paradise higher
God have mercy on them
God have mercy on them

No one, ever, criticizes these sorts of terror attacks.

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Tunisians argue over planned performance by Zionist Tunisian Jew

From Jeune Afrique (July 5, translated):

The participation of Michel Boujenah, Franco-Tunisian humorist, actor and director, at the International Festival of Carthage, has aroused various reactions in the country. A fringe of civil society as well as the UGTT, the main trade union in Tunisia, have called for the cancellation of the show. They blame the comedian for his assumed position in favor of Israel.

"I am very happy because, since the revolution, I have not played. I went there very often, but not to perform," Michel Boujenah announced on the show "On n'es couchés" on June 17, 2017, on France 2 , about his gig at the International Festival of Carthage. His show is scheduled for July 19, 2017... The arrival of Michel Boujenah indeed arouses hostile reactions within Tunisian society . At issue: the pro-Zionist and pro-Israel positions held by the artist.

Interviewed by Radio Mosaïque FM on June 24, 2017 on the controversy surrounding the humorist, Carthage Festival Director Mokhtar Rassaa defended himself by reminding us that Michel Boujenah was above all a Tunisian artist who never hurt his country, which on the contrary often supported him in the international media. "He is a Jew, he has an attachment to Israel, just as we Muslims have an attachment to Mecca ... It is neither a great Zionist nor a leader of Zionism! "he explained.

However, the director of the festival did not convince part of the civil society. Following the interview, a campaign calling for the cancellation of the show was launched by the Tunisian subsidiary of the international campaign "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (BDS), which is working to exert economic pressure on Israel to defend the Palestinian cause. An open letter was sent to the Minister of Culture Mokhtar Rassaa on 26 June 2016.

"We do not want a Zionist, whatever their nationality, on our stages and in our festivals! Michel Boujenah is known as one of the greatest Zionist Franco-Tunisian figures who has always defended Israel, its wars and its army," says the BDS.

Moreover, the campaign considers the show to be unconstitutional. The preamble of the Tunisian Constitution commits itself to defend the right of peoples to self-determination and to combat all forms of occupation and racism. "Zionism" being "the worst form of racism and colonialism of the modern era", the State must prohibit a cultural manifestation of this type, according to the signatories.

The General Labor Union (UGTT) also called on the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, in a communiqué issued on 4 July 2017, to cancel Michel Boujenah's show. Once again, the "Zionist" positions of the comedian are the motivations behind this appeal, with the communiqué mentioning the "artistic futility and lack of content in his shows". The UGTT recommends instead to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to favor the Tunisian shows "in this context of economic crisis".

The government also ended up speaking on this matter. In a statement issued on Wednesday, July 5, 2017,it recalled that "in accordance with the values of the revolution of January 14", it can not intervene in the choice of programming of the Festival of Carthage. It also confirms Tunisia's "unconditional support" for the Palestinian cause.

However, the ministry said it wanted to conduct consultations "with civil society and the people involved" in order to make a decision in the direction of "national interest".

Many Tunisians disapprove of this campaign against the artist, as the president of the Tunisian Association for the Support of Minorities (ATSM), Yamina Thabet, and the director Moncef Dhouib.

So far, the show is still on and Michel Boujenah's performance is still being advertised.

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