West Bank20 September, 20262 min read
Netanyahu Enters Western Wall Tunnels as Hamas Warns of Assault on Al-Aqsa
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Netanyahu toured tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Western Wall area in East Jerusalem. Hamas condemned it as an assault on Al-Aqsa's identity and warned against changing the facts.
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Netanyahu in tunnels
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted videos and photographs showing him participating in Jewish “Selichot” prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur, and he and his wife Sara entered tunnels beneath the Western Wall where prayers were taking place. Netanyahu stated, “Well, we’re in the tunnels at the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall); it’s moving to touch the rock of our existence, we are very close to the Holy of Holies, we are here and we will always be here.”
The Jerusalem Governorate said about 570 Israelis entered the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday in conjunction with Yom Kippur, and the governorate said Netanyahu entered the Western Wall area in the Old City on Saturday night to Sunday to participate in Jewish religious ceremonies. Hamas warned that Netanyahu’s entry into the tunnels and excavations in the area adjacent to the mosque and the Western Wall constitutes, in its description, a “blatant assault on the mosque’s identity and status.”
Hamas and mosque status
Hamas emphasized that Al-Aqsa Mosque, in its full area, courtyards, prayer halls, its arches and doors, is an Islamic mosque, and Hamas stressed that excavations, incursions, and religious rituals will not change the place’s identity. Hamas said, “Al-Aqsa Mosque – in its entirety including its courtyards, prayer halls, walls, and gates – will remain an exclusively Islamic mosque,” and Hamas added that “This is an established fact: the occupation’s excavations, incursions, rituals and attempts to impose its Biblical narrative will never succeed in altering the site’s identity.”
Hamas called on Palestinians to intensify their presence in the mosque as part of what it described as defending and protecting it from attempts to change its reality and identity. The Jerusalem Governorate said thousands of Israelis entered the Western Wall yard in occupied East Jerusalem early Sunday under tight security, and the governorate said thousands reached the plaza after passing through Wadi Street in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Anger, rituals, and risk
Al-Jazeera Net described social media anger after Netanyahu’s tour of the Wall’s tunnels, and the site said Netanyahu’s reference to the “Holy of Holies” sparked condemnation among the audience of social media platforms. Al-Jazeera Net quoted Netanyahu’s framing of the site as “the rock of our existence,” and the site said bloggers argued that the identity of Jerusalem is under imminent threat.
Shabakat Tawāṣul al-Ikhbārīyah said hundreds of settlers entered Al-Aqsa under tight protection from Israeli occupation forces and performed public Jewish rituals and prayers in the mosque courtyards. Shabakat Tawāṣul al-Ikhbārīyah said the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Akrama subri, warned of the danger of exploiting religious seasons to change the status quo in Jerusalem, and the source said Sheikh Subri stressed that all these measures are void and will not change the mosque’s status as a purely Islamic landmark.