The sometimes-paranoid Hamas terrorist organization this week returned to a familiar theme: an Israeli conspiracy to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. According to the Palestine Times, Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, "Chief Rabbi of the Zionist regime revealed plans by the Chief Rabbinate for the seizure and demolition of Islamic Shrines in East Jerusalem for the purpose of erecting a Jewish synagogue on their ruinous sites." The basis of the suspicions is a Voice of Israel radio report on May 20th. According to that report, Rabbi Lau only said that the Chief Rabbinate formed a committee to investigate the possibility of a small synagogue being built at an extremity of the Mount, a location on which Jews may presently pray according to Jewish Law. For halachic (Jewish legal) reasons, Jews are not permitted to even walk in the area of the Temple Mount on which the Al-Aqsa mosque now stands. This did not, however, stop the "Palestine Times" from stating that Rabbi Lau suggested that the synagogue's construction "would necessitate the destruction of the two Islamic sites in the area: the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock."



The article closes by painting Rabbi Lau, and religious Jews general, in a fanatical light: "There are numerous Israeli messianic and terrorist groups dedicated to the destruction of Islamic holy places in Jerusalem, believing that this act would accelerate and expedite the coming of the Jewish messiah or redeemer, who would rule the world from Jerusalem. Many Jews also believe that the appearance of the redeemer will be preceded by internecine wars and bloodshed on a very wide scale, hence many Jewish terrorist groups constantly seek to spark violence and wars in order to fulfill their prophetic whims."