Israeli minister of culture calls Jewish fanatics to increase raids on Al Aqsa mosque
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- The Israeli minister of culture has called on extremist settlers to continue breaking into Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound and thanked security officials for making their raids possible after hundreds broke into the mosque during the final days of Ramadan (Muslims' holy month) to celebrate the anniversary of East Jerusalem occupation.
In a video released on Monday, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said: “We should do everything to keep ascending to the Temple Mount [the name used by zionists for Al-Aqsa]."
“And hopefully soon, we will pray in the Temple Mount, our sacred place,” she added.
Regev also thanked Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Interior Security Minister, and Jerusalem’s Police Chief for their “fight and contribution for Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount".
Regev's comments come few days after tension at the Muslims' holy mosque. Israeli forces arrested, injured, and evicted and thousands of Muslim worshipers, who were performing prayers on the last days of Ramadan, to allow hundreds of Jewish extremists dance and celebrate the anniversary of Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem.
Tear gas and stun grenades in addition to live and rubber-coated bullets were used against worshipers at the Al Aqsa mosque by Israeli forces.
Fanatics marched through the old city's streets and neighborhoods in provocative marches, while the Israeli police was arresting any Palestinian, who happens to be in the settlers' way.
The Al-Aqsa compound is one of the holiest sites in Islam and served as the first Qibla, the direction towards which Muslims must turn to pray, before that was changed to Mecca.
Meanwhile, Israelis believe that Al Aqsa mosque is the place where a Jewish temple was destroyed 2000 years ago.
Palestinians fear that "Israel" is trying to divide the holy mosque between Muslims and Jews the same way it did to the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron to make it easier to control and occupy.
Two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot and killed by Israeli settlers on Tuesday in the village of Al-Mughayyir in the occupied West Bank. A total of three Palestinians have been killed so far today by Israeli settlers across the occupied territories, including two children, amid a spike in settler violence against Palestinians.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has urged the EU to impose sanctions on Israel ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, joining seven EU countries, including France and Sweden, in the call. He also slammed the Israeli assault on Lebanon as “totally unacceptable.”
France and Sweden have co-signed a paper urging the European Union to ban imports from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and to consider tariffs and tighter import restrictions on such goods.