Haniyeh lashes out at Muslim world in speech calling for ‘action’ at Temple Mount

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh lashed out at the wider Muslim world on Friday in a speech in Gaza City for its inaction over the past week, following the implementation of new Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The upgraded security, including metal detectors and cameras at the entrances to the holy site, were put in place last week following a deadly terror attack in which three terrorists emerged from the compound and shot dead two Israeli police officers, having earlier stashed their weapons at the site.

Palestinians have been protesting the security measures introduced by Israel after the attack by clashing with Israeli police on a near-daily basis since the July 14 attack, near the Temple Mount and around East Jerusalem.

Muslim leaders have instructed those wishing to pray not to agree to pass through the metal detector gates posted at the Temple Mount. Only a few Palestinians agreed to security checks and entered the site on Friday, with thousands more praying or protesting at various sites around the city.

“Where are you, nation of a billion, while prayer is being prevented at Al-Aqsa? Where are the Arab summits while the mosque is being sullied by settlers?” Haniyeh said. Palestinians sometimes refer to any Israelis as “settlers.”

Haniyeh called for emergency action “to confront the Israeli aggression and terrorism at Al-Aqsa,” the mosque on the Temple Mount which also houses the Dome of the Rock sanctuary and is considered the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

The Temple Mount is the holiest place to Jews as the site of the biblical temples.

“I say to the Zionist enemy that Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds [Jerusalem] are red lines,” said Haniyeh, adding that Israel’s “policy of closure and implementing punishment measures… will never pass.”

Haniyeh hosted a mass rally in Gaza on Friday against Israel’s stepped up security measures.

The Gaza-based terror leader had on Thursday called for a “day of rage” on Friday in Jerusalem. Friday prayers on the Muslim holy day are the busiest time in the week at the Temple Mount. Hamas is avowedly committed to the destruction of Israel.

Israel initially closed the site after the attack last Friday as it searched for further weapons. The compound was reopened Sunday with metal detectors installed, a step Palestinians protest as a change to the longstanding status quo. Israel has repeatedly denied this charge.

The increased security measures were taken after police said the three attackers who emerged armed from the compound and shot at police on Friday had stashed their weapons on the holy site.

On Thursday, police released video footage showing how the killers and an accomplice got the guns into the Temple Mount compound.

Officials from the Waqf — the Jordanian trust that administers the Temple Mount — have boycotted the site in protest and have called on other Muslims to do the same.