Hamas: Netanyahu is playing with fire by allowing Jews on Temple Mount
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal blames the prime minister for recent Palestinian violence by "turning a national fight into a religious one."
By JPOST.COM STAFFIsraeli police officers stand guard on the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's Old City(photo credit: REUTERS)
Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, railed against Jews being allowed to visit the Temple Mount and justified the recent wave in Palestinian terror attacks as a reaction to the handful of times prayer at the holy site was closed due to security concerns, in an interview with Sky News on Friday."Netanyahu is playing with fire when he allows members of his government and the extremists to repeatedly storm the al-Aksa mosque," he said. "That's dangerous. For every action, there's a reaction."In relation to the Temple Mount being closed for Friday prayers on a number of recent occasions, Mashaal continued to lash out against the prime minister. "Our fight is a national fight. Netanyahu is turning it into a religious fight. He bears responsibility for the consequences of what's happening," he said.Mashaal justified the brutal Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, which killed four Jewish prayer goers and one Druse police officer, by repeating "I told you, for every action, there's a reaction." Motives for the deadly attack were placed on "soldiers, police and right-wing extremists" who "stormed al-Aksa mosque," even though the two prayer sites are completely unrelated and in separate parts of town.In accordance with official Israeli policy, Jews are expressly forbidden from praying on the Temple Mount. Jewish worshippers who break this policy are promptly arrested by Border Police if they are caught praying.Muslim worshippers have full access to the site except during times of violence, when entrance to the Temple Mount is sometimes limited to women, children and men over a certain age.
