Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas said on Sunday that his party sent a clear message to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett regarding the "invasion" of Jews into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Tisha B'Av.
In an interview with Hala TV and the Panet news website, Abbas stressed the importance of Muslims coming to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to strengthen the Islamic identity of the place, as well as expressing a firm position on this issue by the Arab and Islamic world, that “the Al-Aqsa Mosque (that is, the entire area of the Temple Mount) belongs exclusively to Muslims and they have the right to protect it from any danger."
MK Abbas added that the Islamic Endowment Department is the one that exercises sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque and has the authority to approve or prevent entry to the site.
"The position regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque is permanent, according to which the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right of Muslims regardless of the government or our connection with it," MK Abbas said.
Earlier on Sunday, the Islamic Movement and Ra’am issued an official statement entitled, "The Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right of the Muslims and no one but them has a right to it."
The statement also said that "the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque on its entire area of 144 dunams (meaning the entire Temple Mount) is an exclusive right of the Muslims" and that "the Islamic Movement and all our people inside the Palestinian and noble Jerusalem will stand firm against all the extremists who are forcing a new reality or any kind of division of time and place within the Al-Aqsa Mosque."