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Israel on the Brink: Rockets Fired From Gaza and Lebanon, Riots on Temple Mount & Israeli Sisters Murdered in Terror Attack

As Passover celebrations began in the Holy Land, a crisis was brewing as Palestinian leaders encouraged rioting on the Temple Mount under the pretense of protecting the religious site from Israeli incursions. On Tuesday evening,…

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As Passover celebrations began in the Holy Land, a crisis was brewing as Palestinian leaders encouraged rioting on the Temple Mount under the pretense of protecting the religious site from Israeli incursions.

On Tuesday evening, Palestinian agitators armed with rocks, fireworks and other projectiles barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa mosque, forcing Israeli police to enter the compound and evacuate worshipers using stun grenades and rubber bullets to repel rioters. 

The media response was quick and somewhat inevitable.

Several mainstream news organizations published inaccurate reports that Israeli police had “attacked worshipers,” which HonestReporting acted to correct:

In addition, we pointed out that the presence of Israeli police was necessitated by the longstanding agreement between Israel and the Jordanian Wafq, the religious body that administers the site, that explicitly forbids worshipers from staying at the mosque overnight outside of Thursdays and Fridays and the last 10 days of Ramadan:

The unrest continued overnight into Wednesday when Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired 10 rockets in three waves toward Sderot and the Yad Mordechai kibbutz in southern Israel, hitting a factory located in the Sderot industrial zone.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement: “Our Palestinian people will not allow the occupation’s plans to be implemented in al-Aqsa Mosque, and we call on our people to inflict upon the occupation the price of this crime.”

In response, the Israeli Air Force launched strikes on two weapons manufacturing and storage sites in the Strip on Wednesday morning before later hitting a military compound controlled by Hamas.

Terrorist organizations ramped up their campaign of incitement, including Islamic Jihad’s Secretary General Ziyad al-Nakhala urging Palestinians to prepare for a “confrontation” on the Temple Mount and Hamas describing the clashes as “an unprecedented crime” while calling on Palestinians to assemble at the Jerusalem flashpoint.

For the second night in a row, dozens of Palestinian youths — many wearing masks — threw rocks at police and attempted to barricade themselves inside the mosque, stopping other worshipers from leaving. Israeli police were again forced to enter the compound and arrest rioters.

However, numerous news outlets  erroneously suggested the disturbance was a result of Israeli forces “storming” the Al Aqsa mosque to remove “worshipers”:

TIME magazine

CBS News

CNN

On Thursday afternoon, rocket sirens sounded in northern Israel when Lebanon-based terrorists launched a barrage of rockets at several Israeli towns and villages.

Again, HonestReporting worked swiftly to counter misinformation on social media, specifically responding to tweets that attempted to downplay the severity of indiscriminate rocket fire on Israeli territory:

Israel responded to the attack and further overnight rocket fire from Gaza with precision strikes on Friday morning in Gaza and Lebanon, hitting three Hamas targets south of the Lebanese city of Tyre. In the Strip, several terror tunnels and weapons facilities were targeted.

So far, a total of 98 rockets have been fired at Israel, including 64 from the Gaza Strip and 34 from Lebanon.

Worryingly, all signs are pointing to an even more serious escalation.

There were more disturbances in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday when a group of Palestinians threw rocks at the Mughrabi Gate on the Western Wall shortly after the dawn prayers.

A mob later gathered at the Dome of the Rock and waved Palestinian and Hamas flags while chanting pro-terror slogans, including: “With our soul and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, O al-Aqsa.”

On Friday morning, two Israeli sisters were murdered in a shooting attack perpetrated by a Palestinian terrorist near Hamra in the West Bank. Their mother was airlifted to Hadassah Medical Center in critical condition. The family moved to Israel from the United Kingdom.

Hamas celebrated the attack as a “natural response to the occupation’s ongoing crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque and its barbaric aggression against Lebanon and the steadfast Gaza.”

Israel is now on a state of alert after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered security to be bolstered on all roads and in communities in the aftermath of the deadly attack.

Liked this article? Follow HonestReporting on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to see even more posts and videos debunking news bias and smears, as well as other content explaining what’s really going on in Israel and the region. 

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Photo by Atia Mohammed/Flash90

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