Palestinians Riot at Temple Mount
Hundreds of Palestinian Muslims poured out of the mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem this morning, full of the peaceful teachings of Islam, and began rioting and hurling rocks down on Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall: Flashpoint Jerusalem Shrine Is Scene of New Clashes.
Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said officers had fired rubber bullets and tossed stun grenades after hundreds of Muslim worshippers “started rioting” at the end of Friday prayers near the holy site, which Muslims call al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews revere as the Temple Mount.
He said police had mobilized to stop Palestinians trying to stone worshippers standing below the compound at the Western Wall, the most sacred site of Jewish prayer. Palestinians said police acted without provocation during the 30-minute clash.
“Hundreds of Muslims threw rocks and rioted,” Kleiman said.
He said the police had repelled Palestinians trying to approach the edge of the hilltop compound, but that only two stones fell onto the Western Wall plaza, hitting no one.
“There was no provocation for such an Israeli attack,” Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Waqf, which oversees the compound, told Reuters. “This is despicable and unacceptable.”
Every wire story about Temple Mount is scrupulous about pointing out that this area is “one of Islam’s holiest shrines” …
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police stormed the square outside the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, to confront stone-throwing Palestinians on Friday amid heightened tensions over Israel’s West Bank barrier.
… yet they rarely (if ever) mention that Temple Mount is the holiest site of Judaism.
And note how that sentence is carefully constructed to blame Israel for “heightening tensions,” rather than the rioting, stone-throwing Palestinians.