Middle East Monitor / July 18, 2021
Protected by heavily armed Israeli occupation police, 1,371 Israeli Jewish settlers accompanied by Knesset members stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and clashed with Palestinian Muslim worshipers inside the third Islamic holy site.
Media sources and eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque early on Sunday morning to celebrate their fast day which commemorates their alleged day of temple destruction thousands of years ago.
The Israeli police violently attacked the Palestinian worshipers, detained many of them, and lynched others in order to clear the way for the settlers.
Videos went viral on the internet showing the violent aggression of the Israeli police against the Palestinian worshipers who were determined not to leave Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and former MK and extremist rabbi, Yehudah Glick, accompanied the groups of settlers who raided Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Witnesses said that the Israeli occupation force closed the gates of Al-Qibli Mosque, the main prayer hall inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, with chains in order to block the Muslim worshipers inside and afford safe and calm conditions for the extremist settlers.
While the Jewish settlers were inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held an assessment of the security situation with Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev and police chief Kobi Shabtai, with the premier’s office.
According to The Times of Israel, he instructed that “the orderly and safe ascent of Jews” to Al-Aqsa Mosque “should continue, while order is maintained at the site.”
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, said: “What is going on inside Al-Aqsa Mosque is a violent aggression on the Muslim worshipers, who are the owner of the holy site.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas – said in a statement that the Israeli occupation government is unleashing its settlers to desecrate Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The settler aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque ended without casualties among the Palestinians, except the detention of several of them amid calls by the settlers for more raids on the Muslim holy site.
