Temple Mount guard issued with five month ban for praising terrorist
The guard used the Temple Mount's radio system to pay tribute to Ramadan Shallah, a former leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSThe temple mount on the Ninth of Av, July 22, 2018.(photo credit: TNS)
Jerusalem Police have issued a rare five month ban from the Temple Mount to an Islamic Waqf guard after he used the compound's radio system to praise a terrorist leader.Ramadan Shallah, a former leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, died after battling illness on Saturday. Shallah, 62, served as secretary general of the Iran-backed group from 1995 to 2018.Following his death the unnamed guard, 43, from East Jerusalem, used the Temple Mount radio system to announce "On behalf of the Al-Aqsa guards, we mourn the passing of the late great [leader] of our nation and of Palestine, Ramadan Shalah."Footage of his announcement was shared on Facebook by Shehab News Agency, which commented in Arabic: "The guards of Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the former Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Movement Ramadan Shallah, who died yesterday after a long struggle."The footage was brought to the attention of Jerusalem Police by Tom Nisani, head of the Arab Desk of the Zionist watchdog group Im Tirtzu and founder of Students for the Temple Mount. Writing to the Police, Nisani highlighted Article 24 of Israel's Counter Terrorism Law, which states that it is illegal to commit "an act of identification with a terrorist organization, including by publishing words of praise, support or sympathy."Jerusalem Police confirmed that they had brought the guard in for investigation for actions that could disturb the public peace.Nisani said that more needs to be done to combat the anti-Israel incitement on the Temple Mount."While we are pleased that this radical member of the Waqf will not be able to spew his anti-Israel venom on the Temple Mount for the next five months, he should be banned permanently.""The time has come for Israel to once and for all assert its sovereignty over the Temple Mount," continued Nisani. "It's absurd that the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – is the only place in the Western world where Jews can't pray, and where Jewish visitors are at the mercy of the thuggish Waqf."
