Jordan, Arab League and UN fuel Jew-hatred on Temple Mount
Jordan, the Arab League and the UN’s failure to condemn the virulent Jew-hatred on public display during Ramadan at Islam’s third holiest religious site – the Al-Aksa Mosque – located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – is despicable.
Thousands of rioters defiled what is venerated as a Muslim Holy Shrine — converting it into a rallying point for flag-waving slogan-shouting Palestinian Arabs armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails to vent their hatred against Jews.
Clauses 9.1 and 9.2 of the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty state:
9.1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.
9.2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.
The reaction in the Jordanian Parliament to the rioting – expressed by Jordan’s Prime Minister – Bisher Al-Khasawneh – was incredulous:
“I salute every Palestinian, and all the employees of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf, who proudly stand like minarets, hurling their stones in a volley of clay at the Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government”
Instead of publicly condemning his Prime Minister’s provocative and offensive remarks and pledging to uphold the terms of Jordan’s Peace Treaty with Israel – Jordan’s King Abdullah phoned Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi when they:
“stressed the need to cease all illegal and provocative Israeli measures in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The Arab League called on Israel to end Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount – warning it was a flagrant affront to Muslim feelings that could trigger a wider conflict.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al Safadi – standing alongside Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit after an emergency Arab League meeting in Amman stated:
“Our demands are clear that Al-Aqsa and Haram al Sharif in all its area is a sole place of worship for Muslims,”
Aboul Gheit reportedly said Israel was violating a centuries-old policy according to which non-Muslims may visit the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third most sacred site after Mecca and Medina, but not pray there.
The briefing to the UN Security Council by Tor Wennesland Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process was equally disturbing.
“… on 21 April, Jordan convened a ministerial of the Arab League to discuss tensions at the Holy Sites. The Committee issued a statement following the meeting calling for “the respect of the legal and historic status quo.”
The legal status quo grants freedom of access for Jews and Christians worldwide to the Temple Mount which the rioters were preventing.
The historic status quo involves the continuation of Islam’s century’s old practice – agreed to by Israel since 1967 in the hope of helping end the Arab-Israel conflict –that now requires Jews to not mutter one syllable in prayer silently whilst on the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site.
Wennesland amazingly told the Security Council:
“I welcome statements by senior Israeli officials reiterating Israel’s commitment to upholding the status quo and ensuring that only Muslims would be allowed to pray on the Holy Esplanade.”
The UN’s abject surrender in not specifically demanding that Jordan ensure freedom of access for all people to the Temple Mount under the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty is deplorable
That the UN should welcome the continuation of an ancient Islamic supremacist practice excluding non-Muslims praying on the Temple Mount represents the endorsement of a policy that in today’s world smacks of racism and apartheid that is deserving of condemnation.
Jew-hatred is a corrosive human condition that remains incurable.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
