Militant groups in Gaza and Samaria are warning that any encroachment on Al Aqsa during the Hanukkah holiday will result in war. This comes as Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the former Mufti of Jerusalem who is known for his antisemitic stances and calls for harming Jews, visited Acre Friday and warned the congregants at the Al-Ramal Mosque that the Jews will use the holiday to destroy Al Aqsa Mosque. Madi has previously declared that "the collapse of the Zionist entity is near."
Sabri spoke about the need for crowds to go to Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque located on the Temple Mount, especially during the days of Hanukkah, and called on the organizers of the buses from the various cities to strengthen their presence even in the middle of the week: "We will confront the settlers," he said. Jews and non-Muslim visitors are only allowed to visit the holiest site in Judaism between 7:30 and 10:30 AM and 12:30 to 1:30 PM. Under an agreement known as 'the status quo' with Israel after the six-day war, the Jordanian 'Waqf' controls who can go up to the site which is the holiest site in Judaism.
invasions" this Hanukkah.
ā AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) December 18, 2022
Senior Muslim religious figures, such as al-Aqsa's inciting preacher Ekrima Sabri, joined these calls, warning of "(Jews) exploiting Hanukkah for the Judification of al-Aqsa."
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"Whoever is available should come to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. There aren't many Jews on Saturdays, so we need to focus on bringing worshipers and travelers in the middle of the week in order to harm the organized tours of the Jews on the Temple Mount."
He later spoke of the emerging Israeli right-wing government. "The new Israeli occupation government is fueling the violence and harming us, so we must increase our activity to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Hamas threatens war resulting from Jews visiting the Temple Mount during Chanukah; Jordan joins the antisemitic, anti-Chanukah jihad https://t.co/O92j5rSXPU #Antisemitism #Chanukah #Hanukkah #Israel #Jewish
ā Josh Namm (@JoshPNamm) December 18, 2022
The sheik also referred to the World Cup in Qatar, where fans and players from different teams waved Palestinian flags and said that the source of connection to the Palestinians is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He did not mention the fact that Qatar, a longtime financial supporter of Palestinian terror groups like Hamas has been giving away the Palestinian flags and paying people to wave them.
"Without Al-Aqsa, the Arab world would not love Palestine. Billions of Muslims love Palestine and the Palestinians because of the mosque. Even though those nations have different worldviews, and are different from each other, they love the unity of the Islamic nation. The peoples of Islam look up to us and therefore we the people of Palestine need to be united and committed to Allah and the unity of the Ummah."
Sabri was not alone in encouraging the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount on Hanukkah. The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas, Abu Obeida, called on the Muslim masses to come to Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to prevent the "settler raids on the holiday called the Festival of Lights" in a press release yesterday.
Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher and former mufti Ekrima Sabri: "It's a divine decree that the land of Palestine belongs to Muslims alone and is not subject to bargaining or negotiations." pic.twitter.com/jEwt9ecFvf
ā Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) February 25, 2022
He further noted the dates of the holiday and called for increasing resistance: "The presence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque must be escalated and strengthened in order to repel the settler invasions starting tomorrow, on what the Jews call the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah.ā
Hanukkah is the holiday that celebrates the Jewish Maccabean victory over the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire which resulted in the recapture of the Holy Temple on which the 'Temple Mount' was built. Archaeological work done on Al Aqsa revealed that the mosque was likely built upon a Byzantine church built by Emporer Justinian and had used wooden beams that carbon date and correlate to the first and second Jewish Temples to support the roof.
