Arab MK Defies Ban on Temple Mount Visits

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Arab Knesset member (MK) Basel Ghattas defied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's edict banning members of Knesset from visiting the Temple Mount at this time. As a Christian Arab, Ghattas is also forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount, where only Muslims are allowed to pray.

In a videotaped statement, Ghattas said "Netanyahu has no sovereignty over Jerusalem or al-Aksa."

"You and the occupation are doomed to fail," he said. "You and your people don't control this place and you will not keep our people from fulfilling their right to pray and visit al-Aksa. This holy place will remain an Islamic holy site forever."

Netanyahu said his sole purpose was provocation, not prayer.
 
"The Temple Mount has been quiet for two weeks," Netanyahu said. "We are making every effort to maintain this quiet, but it would seem that someone is disturbed by this."

"MK Ghattas went up to the Temple Mount, went to the al-Aqsa Mosque. I assure you he did not do it in order to pray, he did it solely for the purpose of provocation, only to inflame the situation," he continued.
 
"In accordance with my general directive, the police moved him away. I will not let any Knesset member or minister ignite the Temple Mount, and I call on all members of the Knesset and public figures in general to act responsibly, especially at this time," the prime minister said.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip urged Arabs to wage jihad ("holy" war) against Jews and "to plunge knives in [their] chests."

In a videotaped message translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Center, former Hamas interior minister Fathi Hamad also called on Palestinian Authority security forces to fight Israel.

"If you are true Palestinians, you will use weapons not to carry out detentions or for destruction and not to bury the intifada alive," Hamad says. "If any Islamic, Palestinian Arab, jihadi blood runs through your veins and you will not stop."

Hammad praised the shahids (martyrs) who are attacking Jews, whom he referred to as "the slayers of the prophets, the bloodsuckers, the killers of the martyrs."

He praised social media for the incitement it provides.

"We salute the jihad of Facebook, the jihad of Twitter, the jihad of WhatsApp," he said. "We salute anything with jihad in it. The intifada and this jihad will never stop," Hammad promised.