Abbas you are fooling no one. Stop pretending to condemn terror while your government incites it!

Mahmoud Abbas had the audacity to condemn today’s Temple Mount terror attack, while at the same time his own government praised the “martyrs” and incited violence against Israel.

You may recall that in September 2015, just weeks before the “knife intifada” began, Abbas said on Palestinian television: “We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every shaheed (martyr) will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.”

What followed were 231 terror attacks in Israel that claimed the lives of 178 people and injured 647.

Today, three Palestinian terrorists shot dead two Israeli policemen at the Lions Gate before themselves being shot dead on the Temple Mount. As more drops of blood were spilled in Jerusalem, Abbas uttered words of deception by saying he condemned the very thing he called for. And while he did so, his own government posted pictures of the terrorists, calling them “martyrs”, one of the highest honours in Islam.

In fact, they went further and posted a video of the attack calling it a “successful operation”.

Following the attack, Israel was forced to close the Temple Mount. You would think that Palestinian leaders would understand this. You would think that as dead bodies lay on the Temple Mount the Palestinians themselves would call for the site to be closed while investigations are made. But instead of solemn understanding and respect, they responded with rage.

An official statement from the Palestinian government did not condemn the terrorists, but instead condemned Israel for closing Temple Mount. Fatah called this action “a terrorist act against all principles and human values” and a “dangerous escalation” to disrupt the peace.

Even more than that, a separate statement on the Fatah official Facebook page stated that Israel’s actions were “the origin of the disease, the beginning of the cycle of violence that does not stop”.

“What we are witnessing is successive episodes of the killing of Palestinians in cold blood without taking into account the sanctity of the place and the sanctity of life, Israel is savouring murder for the sake of killing.”

It is important to note here that it was the terrorists who today desecrated the Temple Mount. It is also important to note that the last part of that statement is a blood libel, accusing the Israelis of desiring to kill Palestinians, which is an evil lie.

They finished their statement by calling for their people to rise up against Israel, to defy the restriction on the Temple Mount and fight back.

“We appeal to the masses of our people to go to the Al-Aqsa Mosque today and pray there and break the Israeli siege, which aims to change the features of the holy city and judaize it. O masses of our steadfast, steadfast people! Get to the Al-Aqsa Mosque!”

The result is that Palestinians are now filling the streets outside the Temple Mount to pray, and in some cases fighting with police to try and gain access to the compound.

It is the incitement of the Palestinian leadership that has caused so much death over the years and it is incitement that threatens to cause today’s attack to spill out into more violence against Israelis.

The Palestinian leaders will not stop, however, because this incitement has proven to be very effective over many, many years.

In 1928, Palestinian leaders accused Israel of wanting to change the status quo on the Temple Mount as well. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem at that time accused the Jews of “unlimited greedy ambitions” against Islam’s holy sites and warned that the Jews intended to “destroy the Temple Mount mosques and rebuild the Temple”.

The mufti hammered this message home, repeating it over and over again for one year until it finally boiled over into violence. In August 1929, after morning prayers on the Temple Mount, thousands of Arabs poured out of the mosques and began attacking Jews in the Old City. By the time that week of violence was over, 133 Jews were murdered in the streets of Jerusalem.

Despite what the Palestinian leaders say, Israel has never changed the status quo of the Temple Mount. They did not do that when the lies were spouted in 1929, which we might add was long before Israel’s supposed “occupation”. Israel also never changed the status quo in 1967 when it retook Jerusalem from Jordan. They had the opportunity then to destroy al-Aqsa mosque and to rebuild the Temple, but they didn’t. Instead they allowed the Muslims to continue worshipping there. This is despite the fact that when Jordan occupied the city from 1948 to 1967 the Jews were banished from their holy sites.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East that preserves all the holy sties of Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is the only country in the Middle East where freedom of worship for all is protected. Even today, Israeli leaders declared that it would remain that way, there was no change to the status quo, this was just a temporary closure.

For too long the Palestinian leadership has beat the drum of incitement. They have spouted lies to the international community saying they seek peace while teaching their own people to hate Israel and the Jews and long for their destruction.

The world must stop turning a blind eye to the truth. Abbas, you are fooling no one.