זחאלקה בהר הבית

Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman has called on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to prosecute MK Jamal Zahalka (Arab Joint List), over footage which shows him joining in with Islamists harassing and cursing Jewish visitors and police on the Temple Mount.

"The law enforcement agencies must respond to these attacks, which are part of an effort by Joint List MKs to escalate the tensions on the Temple Mount and to harm the Jewish visitors there," Liberman said in reaction to the video Tuesday.

Slamming the impunity with which Zahalka and other radical Arab MKs have been taking part in violent, anti-Jewish demonstrations, he added: "Zahalka, who told Jews there to leave and go to hell and claims that he is 'defending his home,' needs to know that not only is the Temple Mount not his or his friends' 'home,' but neither is the entire State of Israel."

During the confrontation, Zahalka called Jewish visitors "fascists" and "racists" for merely visiting the Mount - which is Judaism's holiest site but which Muslim groups claim as their own.

"Why do you allow them in?" Zahalka can be seen shouting at police officers. "The hell with them, it's just a provocation to hurt the feelings of Muslims."

"You are criminals, lunatics!" he continues. "You are here in our place [i.e. Muslims - ed.], this is my home." 

Arab MKs from the Joint List party have taken a central role in stirring up provocations on the Mount, which it claims is a Muslim holy site and should be closed to Jews. 

Earlier this month, another clip sent to Arutz Sheva showed fellow MK Ahmed Tibi actually striking an Israel Police officer on the mount - a criminal offense - while Zahalka "orders" police to leave the site.