On Friday, two Israeli Border Police were murdered in a terror attack by an entrance to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. After committing their attack, the terrorists then fled to the Temple Mount, and were eventually shot and killed after being chased by Police.
The attack received widespread condemnation from the West and within Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the attack.
But within a large segment of the Arab world, instead of focusing on the attack, politicians focused on Israel’s temporary closure of the Temple Mount for security reasons.
Jordan’s Minister of Waqf and Islamic Affairs Wael Arabiyat warned of “continued unprecedented harm to the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” as a result of the closure. The Arab League issued a statement condemning Israel for its closure of the Temple Mount, but did not mention the attack which caused it. And the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, also criticized the closure, calling it “a serious crime and a dangerous precedent.”
Yet it wasn’t just politicians who ignored the attack, deciding to focus on the closure instead. The Arab media excessively focused on the closure, spouting aggressive and hateful language against Israel. A significant number of Arab media outlets even used cartoons to express their hateful message.
The Arab world have stated that Israel’s temporary closure of the Temple Mount would spark violence and terrorism. Yet it isn’t Israel which is causing tensions to rise, it is the Arab politicians and media themselves. The fiery statements and cartoons featured above, only increase the divisions between Israelis and Palestinians, and undoubtedly have an effect in radicalizing Palestinians to commit terror attacks. Imagine how a young Palestinian would feel seeing those cartoons. It would of course spark emotions of anger and hate.
If the Arab world, like the West, acknowledged some of the necessary actions Israel must take in the fight against terrorism, and unwaveringly condemned terror attacks against Israelis, then violence would eventually subside. Maybe if the Arab media stopped with their lies about Israel planning on changing the status-quo at the Temple Mount, tempers would die down.
But the more the Arab world ignores terror, and continues its fiery rhetoric and lies about Israeli actions on the Temple Mount, the more violence will occur.
Contributed by Daniel Kosky, CAMERA Intern.