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In a phone call with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed dissatisfaction with the international community’s response to recent Palestinian violence against the Jewish state and its citizens.
Bennett specifically said he is disappointed that the UN did not condemn Hamas after terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched three rockets toward Israeli territory over the weekend. Earlier in the week, Gaza-based terror groups had already fired projectiles at Israel, ending an almost four-month quiet in the border area.
“The international community must not serve the terrorist organizations’ agenda. Israel is a stabilizing force,” the premier stated.
In the Saturday call, he also touched upon the unrest in Jerusalem. The last week has seen clashes between violent Palestinian rioters and security forces at the Temple Mount in Israel’s capital. “If we had not established order, tens of thousands of Muslims would not have been able to pray,” Bennett told the secretary-general.
Meanwhile, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, Palestinians carrying Hamas flags once again led antisemitic chants in support of the US-designated terror group, including slogans like “Settler, be patient, a Hamas man will dig your grave.”
Local reports indicated that Israel’s security forces are preparing for a possible flare-up with Hamas. According to Channel 12 News, the Israel Defense Forces are preparing for the possibility that the current rocket fire could escalate into several days of fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
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Amid the tensions in Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with senior US officials to discuss Israel’s efforts to preserve the so-called “status quo” in the Holy City. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Yael Lempert and Deputy Assistant Secretary Hady Amr were dispatched to the Jewish state’s capital following concerns about the escalation of violence.
In a Twitter post, Lapid thanked the US for “its efforts to calm tensions in the region.” Furthermore, the foreign minister stressed that “extremists and Hamas supporters” are to blame for the events at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
“Israel is preserving and will continue to preserve the status quo on the Temple Mount. We have no intention of changing it whatsoever,” he added.
Before visiting Israel, Lempert and Amr first stopped in Jordan to meet with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and discuss the importance of “upholding the historic status quo at Jerusalem’s holy places.” Just days ago, Amman’s prime minister praised Palestinians for hurling stones at the “Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Lempert and Amr also traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where they spoke with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas. There, the US officials reportedly discussed “the need for all parties to call and work for calm, especially in Jerusalem, and our mutual commitment to a two-state solution.”
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After COVID-19 restrictions barred tourists from entering Israel for nearly two years, scores of Christian pilgrims this weekend once again celebrated the “Holy Fire” ceremony in Jerusalem’s Old City. Despite Israeli restrictions on the number of worshippers — put into place out of fear of a repeat of last year’s stampede at a Jewish holy site — thousands attended the traditional ritual.
Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that on the Saturday before their Easter celebrations, a miraculous flame appears inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a sprawling 12th-century basilica built on the site where some believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.
Accordingly, Greek Patriarch Theophilos III on Saturday entered the Holy Edicule, a chamber built on the site of the tomb, and returned with two lit candles, passing the flame among thousands of attendees, gradually illuminating the walls of the church.
The mystical fire will be transferred to Christian communities in other countries on special flights.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem today; thousands in attendance at the Holy Fire ceremony pic.twitter.com/MoHyT27Sqd
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) April 23, 2022
Israeli authorities said they allowed 4,000 people to attend the ceremony, including 1,800 inside the church itself, which has a single large entryway with a raised step. Church leaders rejected any restrictions on principle, saying they infringed on their religious freedom.
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An Iranian program aimed at developing ballistic missiles, chemical weapons and drones has reportedly been subject to Israeli aerial attacks. Known as ‘Project 99,’ the Syria-based initiative is seemingly under the complete control of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah.
On April 9, Syrian TV reported that Israel’s air force had struck targets in the area of Masyaf in the Hama province. At the time, reports stated that the strikes had targeted a factory to develop precision-guided missiles. However, a Saudi channel now quotes “senior Syrian sources” as saying that the attack aimed to destroy one of Project 99’s centers, an underground bunker protected by a thick layer of concrete and steel.
Another such facility, a Quds Force research center for manufacturing advanced surface-to-surface missiles and chemical weapons, is claimed to be situated near the village of Taqsis in the Hama province. Iran is also believed to be operating an installation in the western Homs province, known as the Qtina Center.
The Saudi Al Hadath news channel added that chemical weapons have been smuggled out of the Qtina Center into Lebanon through tunnels and that it has been repeatedly targeted by the Israel Defense Forces.
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The Israeli consulate expressed concerns after anti-Israel groups, including one designated by Israel as a terrorist organization, organized demonstrations in New York calling for Palestinian “resistance and liberation by any means necessary.”
“This statement is concerning, and we take it very seriously,” said Itay Milner, a spokesman at the consulate, adding: “We witnessed in the past weeks how these kinds of statements incited violence in the Middle East. Now, some people want to bring the same violence here to New York City.”
For instance, on April 20, protesters gathered in front of Israel’s consulate and Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Midtown Manhattan after several organizations, including Samidoun, called for an “emergency rally” at the “Zionist mission.”
About 150 attendees waved flags, banged on drums and chanted: “From the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, Palestine will be free.” Protesters could also be heard calling to “globalize the Intifada.”
Israel’s Ministry of Defense named Samidoun a terrorist organization due to it being a subsidiary of the PFLP. The group’s founder, Khaled Barakat, is alleged to be involved in “establishing militant cells and motivating terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], and abroad.”
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