Israel plans to let Jewish settlers change status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, warns Islamic Council

The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and Affairs Council has warned that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is enabling Jewish settlers to change the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The council issued a joint statement to this effect on Tuesday with the Supreme Islamic Authority and the Palestinian Fatwa House.

The three organisations called on the international community to support the efforts of the Hashemite Kingdom as Custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and to take urgent action to stop the extremely dangerous escalation in the Israeli occupation regime’s violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially during Jewish holidays.

They warned that the Israeli occupation regime and its security services have enabled Jewish extremists to change the religious, historical and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, by allowing large numbers of settlers to storm the mosque and perform Jewish rituals there. “The settlers also steal stones from the mosque in a blatant and provocative challenge to all Muslims and free people of the world.”

The Islamic bodies in Jerusalem called on the Muslim Ummah, represented by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to take urgent and effective measures to stop the escalating Judaisation of Islam’s third holiest site, which threaten the mosque’s function as a place of worship.

Hundreds of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday for the third day in a row on the Jewish Sukkot holiday. They were under Israeli police protection.

A total of 4,000 Jewish settlers raided Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, said the local Islamic authorities. The settlers share videos of themselves on social media performing prayers and other rituals in the mosque, while Muslim worshippers face restrictions.

All of Israel’s settlers and settlements are illegal under international law. On 19 July, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion reiterating that settlers and settlements contravene Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are “unlawful”. Although advisory, legal experts have points out that the laws upon which such opinions are based are binding.

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