Dozens of Israeli settlers carried out Talmudic rituals after breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque Courtyards from Magharba Gate, on Sunday morning, heavily guarded by special Israeli forces.
Mosque sources said, according to the PNN, that extremists settlers provocatively carried out Talmudic rituals and prayers in the mosque, and that an extremist settler threw himself on the ground near Al-Rahma Gate, as most of the settlers were barefoot. They usually perform such rituals specifically in this area.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place. Disputes surrounding visitation to the site have historically flared tensions in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2003, the Israeli government unilaterally decided — despite the objections of the Islamic Endowments Department — to allow non-Muslim visitors into the complex.
Since then, under increasingly right-wing Israeli governments, extremist Jewish settlers have been allowed into the site in ever greater numbers — usually protected by Israeli security forces — while Palestinian access to the site has become increasingly restricted.
Extremist Israeli settlers and politicians regularly violate the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque — on an almost daily basis — and always under the protection of armed occupation forces who often attack Palestinian worshipers who try to protect their holy site.
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