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PA: Israeli President Lighting Menorah at Cave of the Patriarchs Is ‘Declaration of War’

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avatar by Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Opinion

Israeli President Isaac Herzog lights the first Hanukkah candle at a ceremony at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, November 28, 2021. Photo: YouTube

The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is known to Muslims as the “Ibrahimi Mosque.” It is the site where all the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs other than Rachel are buried.

The structure housing the cave was built by King Herod roughly 2,000 years ago, during the Second Temple period. After Hebron was occupied by Muslim Caliph Umar in 637 CE, the site was converted into a mosque. Islam co-opted the Jewish tradition regarding the site being the burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs, and called it the “Ibrahimi Mosque” after Abraham.

Today, the Palestinian Authority (PA) claims the Cave is a holy place for Muslims alone, and considers any Jewish presence there a “defilement.”

Thus, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the Cave to light a Hanukkah menorah, the PA claimed that Herzog “broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque and defiled it.”

A PA governor stated Herzog’s “invasion” of the Cave was “a declaration of war”:

PA TV’s caption on screen throughout broadcast: “President of the occupation state Isaac Herzog invaded the Ibrahimi Mosque”

Hebron District Governor Jabrin Al-Bakri: “This day is a declaration of war by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and the Muslims, through the invasion of the noble Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., the Cave of the Patriarchs).”

[Official PA TV, Nov. 28, 2021]

Official PA TV called Herzog an “extremist,” who “defiled” the Cave:

Official PA TV reporter: “The Hebrew media published the video from the noble Ibrahimi Mosque … and we saw the most prominent extremist settler leaders in Hebron as they accompanied this extremist [Israeli President Isaac Herzog] and defiled the noble Ibrahimi Mosque.”

[Official PA TV, Nov. 28, 2021]

Not surprisingly, Herzog’s supposed “defilement” of the Cave was a consistent theme in PA officials’ condemnations of the visit — in line with the PA’s antisemitic description of Jewish presence at sites holy to both Jews and Muslims as “defilement.”

Blaming Herzog for “defiling” the Cave and “deliberately provoking millions of Arabs and Muslims,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor and Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash implicitly threatened Israel with terror.

Stressing that “the break-in will have most severe and hard consequences, for which the occupation state will bear full responsibility,” Al-Habbash compared Herzog to Ariel Sharon and his visit to the Temple Mount in 2000, which then-PA chairman Yasser Arafat utilized to start his five-year terror campaign — the second Intifada — during which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered in suicide bombings and other terror attacks:

Al-Habbash said that Israeli President [Isaac Herzog’s] decision to break into the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and to defile it … constitutes … a deliberate attempt to provoke the Palestinians’ sensibilities even more, and more than this — the sensibilities of millions of Arabs and Muslims

The supreme Shari’ah judge added that this colonialist aggressive break-in reminds us of what former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did when he broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2000, which caused the outbreak of a mighty Palestinian [second] Intifada.”

[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Nov. 27, 2021]

The supreme Shari’ah judge also emphasized that “the Ibrahimi Mosque, like the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is a mosque that belongs to the Muslims only.”

Referencing the same statement, the official PA daily cited Al-Habbash as saying that Herzog’s visit was an “explicit aggression against Islam and the Muslims,” and that “Herzog is following the footsteps of Sharon and lighting a fire that will not go out, as both of them have the same mentality and the same occupying and hostile barbarity against Islam and the Muslims, against Palestine and the Palestinians, and even against freedom and all of humanity.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 29, 2021]

Last year, Palestinian Media Watch documented that Al-Habbash called Israel’s placing of a candelabra on the roof of the Cave “a war crime,” and a “desecration.”

Similarly, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh also issued an implicit threat to Israel, “warning against the severe consequences” of “Herzog’s provocative break-in to the Ibrahimi Mosque.”

Already before Herzog’s visit, the PA Ministry of Religious Affairs heated up the atmosphere, “warning” of the impending “break-in” by Herzog, threatening “consequences.”

A regular columnist of the official PA daily went as far as to compare Israeli president Herzog to the Jewish right-wing extremist Baruch Goldstein who opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994, murdering 29 and wounding 125.

“We and the world had the impression that Israeli President [Isaac] Herzog belonged to the moderate and peace supporting movement in Israel. … Two days ago Herzog disappointed everyone when he broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the center of occupied Hebron together with the most extremist and fascist leaders of the settlement enterprise

When the Palestinian side and the Israeli side signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, we — the supporters of peace on both sides — believed that we were leaving behind us the darkest chapters in the history of the conflict.

Even before the ink was dry on the signature, in the spring of 1994, extremist [Baruch] Goldstein committed the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre …

Until two days ago we thought that you were Rabin’s heir, as one of his fellow members of the Labor party, but we were surprised that you chose Goldstein and his black-hearted comrades.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2021]

Two terror organizations, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), also joined in calling for terror.

Islamic Jihad warned of consequences similar to the second Intifada, stating that Herzog’s visit was “a hostile act” that should be met “with full force.”

The PFLP made the same kind of threats, calling to “resist the visit with all forms” — the Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror:

Palestinian Media Watch has also reported on the PA’s protests against Israel’s installing of an elevator at the Cave of the Patriarchs to make the religious site accessible for the disabled — Muslims as well as Jews.

More Palestinian quotes of incitement and antisemitism can be found at Palestinian Media Watch, where the author is a contributor, and a version of this article first appeared.

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