Sheikh Kamal Hatib, Deputy Chairman of the Northern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, declared that a war between “Palestinians” and Israel over the Temple Mount is set to begin, in a weekend interview with Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen Tuesday.
“The Israeli establishment under the leadership of a right-wing government believes that this is the time for building the Temple and opening a religious war in which Israel cannot win,” he told the network, which is close to Hezbollah.
Speaking from his home in the Lower Galilee town of Kafr Kana, Hatib accused Israel of exploiting the difficult predicament of the Arab world, the division within Palestinian society and the security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA), in order to “attack Al Aqsa” for the third day running.
He called for the PA's security cooperation with Israel to stop, and asked Arab states to pressure the PA to let the Palestinians go out and protest for “the holy mosque.” Indeed, he said, Muslims all over the world should do the same.
Had he been a Jew...
Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, a leading nationalist figure who lives in Hevron, attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan Wednesday for taking no action against Hatib. “I ask myself, how can it be that to this moment, policemen have not arrived ot arrest Hatib and file charges against him for inciting violence, and request his detention for the duration of the legal proceedings against him?”
Ben Gvir noted that a complaint was once filed against Hatib for allegedly inciting racism against Jewish policemen, but State Attorney Shai Nitzan decided against filing charges.
Had Hatib been a Jew from the “Hilltop Youth” who incited thus for violence, opined Ben Gvir, special police forces would have been deployed “within an hour's time,” and he would be spending the next few days in lockup.
Ben Gvir also pointed to Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau, who said proudly in an interview that the Jerusalem police have been operating “with restraint.”
Ben Gvir lashed out: "Restraint? Is this the great news that Interior Security Minister Gilad Erdan has brought with him? Would it not have been right to conduct dozens of arrests, issue distancing orders, arrest the women who riot on the Temple Mount as they did to girls during the Expulsion [from Gaza] and put them on trial while they were still in lockup?”