Summary
Highlights
The upcoming Friday marks a critical period for Al-Aqsa Mosque, coinciding with the Hebrew anniversary of Jerusalem's occupation. This confluence may lead to unprecedented aggression, as Israeli authorities seek to impose new realities on the city, using the mosque as a focal point for their claims of sovereignty. The video highlights five key questions to understand the impending aggressions.
Typically, the Hebrew anniversary involves two main acts of aggression: morning raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli settlers perform religious rituals and display their flag to assert sovereignty through mass prostration. The evening entails a flag march, starting from West Jerusalem, entering the Old City through Damascus Gate, and targeting Palestinians with insults and physical attacks while displaying Israeli flags.
This year, the situation is exacerbated by two factors: the anniversary falling on a Friday, and the ongoing Israeli 'liquidation war' in Palestine, which uses Al-Aqsa as a central front. Israel aims to leverage this convergence to establish new facts and historical precedents. The objectives include significantly increasing settler presence and rituals in the morning raids, and establishing an additional evening raid period on Thursday, May 14th, as a compensatory measure. This would extend daily raid times to nine hours over five days, a significant shift towards temporal division of the mosque.
The most significant goal for Israeli extremists is to successfully raid Al-Aqsa on Friday, particularly before or after Friday prayers, and repeat the flag march on Friday itself. This would mark an unprecedented escalation, moving from closing the mosque on Fridays to actively invading it, thereby gaining a historical advantage and a political victory for figures like Netanyahu.
Israeli police statements regarding Friday remain deliberately ambiguous, while confirming operations for both Thursday and Friday with 14,000 security personnel. Publicly, they emphasize Thursday. However, two recent petitions, largely signed by Likud party members, including high-ranking officials, explicitly call for Friday raids and extended Thursday hours. This suggests a coordinated strategy orchestrated by Netanyahu, aiming to claim political credit for the aggressions, previously reaped by figures like Ben-Gvir.
The historical pattern indicates that Israeli authorities achieve such incursions through deception. They initially downplay or deny plans for Friday raids, only to launch a surprise attack when the mosque is less crowded. This tactic aims to establish a new precedent for Israeli control and garner political benefits for Netanyahu, portraying these acts as a continuous process of Judaization rather than mere electoral maneuvers.
Despite Israeli strength, their need for deception reveals their underlying weakness. While they can mobilize 5,000 settlers, over 100,000 worshippers could potentially gather on Friday. Palestinian steadfastness and presence, especially from Thursday morning to Friday evening, including attempts at I'tikaf (spiritual retreat), are crucial. This unity can thwart Israeli plans, as evidenced by past successes against similar aggressions. This is a call for a unified Palestinian and Arab-Islamic response, linking the defense of Al-Aqsa with the right of return, especially during the Nakba anniversary. The actions taken now will define future aggressions.