Riots Break Around Har Habayis: 15 Injured

Yerushalayim heating up: Violent riots broke out last night near the lion gate entrance to Har Habayis. According to the Red Crescent, around 50 people were injured, 15 of them were transferred to the hospital.

As well, in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan not far from the old city, rioters pelted police with rocks, molotov cocktails, and fire cracker.

Masked rioters also attacked police officers stationed at the gas station near the Ofir crossing in the Arab neighborhood of Isawayah. As a result of the molotov cocktails lobbed at the security forces, a fire broke out on the road leading up to the Ofir crossing.

Police reacted with non-lethal means to disperse the rioters and restore the calm to the streets.

Palestinian social media is being flooded with calls to continue causing havoc and mayhem until the metal detectors installed at the entrances to Har Habayis are removed.

As previously reported, after last Fridays gruesome terror attack from within Har Habayis, in which 2 policeman were killed and one injured, police have installed metal detectors at all 9 entrances to Har Habayis . The move has been met with strong resistance from the Arab world, especially from Jordan that sees itself as the legal sovereign over Har Habayis.

Rumors that the metal detectors will soon be removed and are only there on a temporary basis, led PM Netanyahu who is currently visiting Hungary to declare that the detectors are here to stay.

In reality, the need to place metal detectors at the entrances to Har Habayis has already been recognized and approved by the government many years ago. However, the detectors have never actually been installed out of fear that it will cause unrests.

Speaking to ‘Kol Barama’ radio yesterday morning, minister of education Naftali Bennet commented on the fuss being made over the newly installed detectors saying, “What’s the big deal, in Mecca which is considered by Muslims to be their holiest site there are metal detectors, so why can’t there be detectors at Har Habayis”.

Co-authored and translated by Eli B

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!