Jewish groups slam PA over Temple Mount violence

"We demand that the Palestinian Authority take immediate measures to crack down on the incitement."

By TAMARA ZIEVE
A Palestinian woman argues with an Israeli border policeman at the entrance to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City (photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
A Palestinian woman argues with an Israeli border policeman at the entrance to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City
(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
The World Jewish Congress called on the Palestinian Authority to take immediate action to curb incitement, following the bloody terror attack on Friday night which killed three Israelis eating dinner in their home in the Halamish settlement.
“The World Jewish Congress unequivocally condemns the heinous and horrific attack in the settlement of Halamish tonight which took the lives of three innocent Israelis sitting down for Shabbat dinner," the organization said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, and with Israelis and Jewish people around the world. We demand that the Palestinian Authority take immediate measures to crack down on the incitement that led to this attack and make every effort to prevent such an atrocity from happening again.”
Anti-Defamation league CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he was "heartbroken" by the attack, adding that "such heinous crimes are amoral and inexcusable in the name of any faith."
Addressing the riots which erupted after metal detectors were placed at an entrance to the Temple Mount complex, Greenblatt said that "all should have access to holy sites but violent riots are not a reasonable response to security measures intended to prevent violence." He also criticized PA President Mahmoud Abbas's announcement that he was freezing all contacts with Israel until it removes the new security measures, saying: "at time of intense tensions when we need cooperation, leaders should work together, not cease all contact."
Jerusalem on alert ahead of Palestinian Day of Rage over Temple Mount, July 21, 2017. (Credit: Reuters)
Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center directed its criticism at the the World Council of Churches, which demanded a return to the status quo on the Temple Mount.
"Rather than decry the desecration of both human life and a holy site by jihadi murderers, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined the chorus of voices in the Muslim world up in arms because Israel has introduced metal detectors to increase security for Muslims, Christians, and Jews," the center said.
“The response by the WCC is perfectly consistent with the WCC’s decades-long animus against the Jewish State,” remarked Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean of the Center and its Director of Global Social Action. “In the years prior to the 1967 war, Jordan administered Jerusalem’s holy sites, desecrated every synagogue in the Old City, and barred Jews entirely from the Western Wall. The WCC never, ever protested. Yet they are prepared today to work in the name of the ‘status quo’ against the installation of metal detectors, delighting jihadist groups who dream of igniting regional or global war by suicide attacks launched from Al-Aqsa,” he continued.
“The installation of metal detectors is taken for granted at the Vatican, at government offices, at every airport around the globe,” added Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Interfaith Affairs. “They were first made necessary when Palestinians internationalized terrorism decades ago.”


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