UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon (L), with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: UN.org.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told PA President Mahmoud Abbas that he worried Abbas’s recent incitement would lead to more confrontations in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported, citing Israel Radio.

Abbas blatantly incited violence last week, and praised Palestinian fighters for attacking Jews in Jerusalem; he also called on Palestinians to prevent Jews from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque with “everything in our power.”

“The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours… and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem. … We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing. Every martyr (Shahid) will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah,” Abbas said in a speech translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), segments of which were aired on official PA TV and posted on Abbas’s website.

In response to Abbas’ statements, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the recent increase in Palestinian violence was “of course joined by the choir, by the Palestinian Authority, with incitement and even anti-Semitic expressions regarding the prohibition for Jews with their ‘filthy feet’ to visit the Temple Mount and other over-the-top expressions.”

Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman tried to stab IDF soldiers at a Hebron checkpoint on Tuesday. The soldiers fired back, and the 18-year-old attacker later died from her injuries.

Steven Emerson is the Executive Director the Investigative Project on Terrorism (www.investigativeproject.org) where this article first appeared.