(JNi.media) The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Saturday said it was appalled by a blatantly one-sided statement of the UN Security Council regarding recent tensions around the Temple Mount compound, which ignored the holiness of the site to Jews and “turned a blind eye” to Muslim violence and the anti-Semitic invective from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The September 18 UNSC statement refers to the site only by its Muslim name, the Haram Al-Sharif, and says that Muslim worshippers must “be allowed to worship in peace, free from violence, threats and provocation.” The does not mention the religious significance of the site to Jews and, according to the ADL, ignores the violence and provocation being perpetrated by Arabs against Israeli security forces and Jewish and other non-Muslim visitors, including the stockpiling of pipe bombs and stones inside the Muslim compound.
According to the ADL, the PA leadership has exacerbated tensions for years regarding the Temple Mount, inciting violence, falsely alleging Israeli conspiracies, and all the while diminishing or denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. The ADL statement recalled that only last week, Chairman Abbas said, “Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem.”
“We are greatly concerned by increasing tensions in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary site, holy to Jews and Muslims, and support the continued efforts of Israel’s political and religious leadership to appeal for calm and ensure that the ‘status quo’ – which accommodates both Jews and Muslims and has been in place since 1967 – be maintained,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL National Director.
“The UN Security Council had the opportunity to address the reality of this difficult and potentially explosive situation, including through directly appealing for an end to the blatant Palestinian incitement and violence, but instead, the Council turned a blind eye by disregarding the context and presented this complex issue as one directed only at Muslim worshippers at a Muslim holy site. We fear that unfortunately this will serve to encourage not just one-sided narratives, but also anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incitement and action on this most sensitive and holy space.”
Greenblatt added. “We urge the United States and responsible voices in the international community to condemn the violence and call for an end to the incendiary statements by President Abbas and others which is tinged with anti-Semitism.”