In the context of a burgeoning media campaign, several Palestinian networks took to the airwaves on a Sunday morning to showcase images of Jewish worshippers ascending the revered Temple Mount during the auspicious holiday of Sukkot. Notably, these networks also shared photographs of Jewish individuals holding the 'Four Species,' which are four plants employed in ritualistic prayers during Sukkot. In a provocative twist, they labeled these plants as 'vegetative sacrifices.'
"One can't help but wonder if the settlers aim to establish a foothold in Al-Aqsa, even introducing plant offerings," proclaimed one of the reports, evidently designed to inflame sentiments among the local East Jerusalem Arabs. This narrative came with a stark warning that the Jewish aspiration to construct a temple and offer sacrifices on the Temple Mount is steadily drawing nearer. Another report documented, "Settlers, their hands bearing offerings of plants, can be seen in prayer and dance at the Dung Gate, one of the entrances to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They traverse the areas surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the labyrinthine lanes of the Old City of Jerusalem, intent on bringing these offerings into the sacred precinct."
40,000 Israeli 🇮🇱 and Palestinian Muslims prayed at the Al Aqsa Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem today. Coincidentally, it is also the eve of Sukkot, one of the three Jewish pilgrimage holidays requiring a visit to the Temple Mount. pic.twitter.com/MWnHCNVn96
— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) September 29, 2023
Adding fuel to the fire of Palestinian media's incitement was the arrest of an Israeli individual who attempted to bring a lamb onto the Temple Mount for the purpose of performing a Sukkot sacrifice. The organization sponsoring this Israeli worshipper made a resolute statement following his detention, declaring, "The die has been cast; there is no room left for Muslim dominion over the Temple Mount. The time has come to erect a Jewish temple and revive sacrificial practices. To the government and to the Arab population, we assert that you have erred in your judgment. The revival of sacrificial rites and the construction of the temple are imminent."
These mounting tensions, revolving around the Temple Mount during a Jewish holiday, unfurled mere days after a group of young visitors ascended the holy site and were met with uncharacteristic aggression from the local police force. Video footage, now widely circulated in Israel, documents one of the policemen striking a young boy in the head and knocking a phone out of another individual's hand. These incidents dovetail with a series of allegations directed at the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, concerning his handling of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount—a stance that, according to activists, has taken a turn for the worse in recent times.
Colonial Israeli Jewish settlers perform Talmudic rituals at one of the main gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied #Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/UXde2Ln3zv
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 1, 2023
The group of young people included approximately 20 members from the Migdal HaEmek Yeshiva who embarked on this tour. However, shortly after their arrival at the Temple Mount, some of them made the decision to prostrate themselves in prayer—an action sternly forbidden by the police, who assert that it disrupts the established status quo.
