Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beytenu) is advancing a new bill to declare the groups of Muslim extremists coordinating unrest on the Temple Mount in order to block Jewish visits as illegal gatherings.
The new bill was revealed on Wednesday by Haaretz, and targets the organized gatherings of Muslim men and women in recent years on the Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, who curse and shout at Jewish visitors and assault police with rocks and fireworks. The activities of such groups are conducted with the objective of preventing Jews from visiting the Mount and removing what is left of Israeli sovereignty there.
Those activities have been shown to be funded by the radical Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamic Movement in Israel, which is led by extremist Sheikh Raed Salah and has actively supported Arab rioting. There are currently moves in the Knesset to ban the extremist group.
Aharonovich has come in for heavy criticism during the recent wave of Arab terrorism, with many calling for his resignation. Critics say he did not act decisively enough at the start of Arab riots back in June, which in turn encouraged a steady escalation by emboldened Islamists. Security officials have said that the Islamic Movement has also been coordinating and agitating riots and violence among Israel’s Arab community outside of the capital as well.
Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) in May announced the arrest of a top Hamas terrorist, Mohammed Toameh, who was captured in April. Toameh acknowledged there is a close relationship between Hamas and the Islamic Movement in Israel, which Hamas tries to keep secret.
The Hamas leader said the Islamist group and others like it launder Hamas money and “donate” it to hundreds of young Muslims ostensibly studying Islam on the Mount, who are the ones rioting and throwing rocks to block Jewish visitors. He added they receive between 4,000 to 5,000 shekels (around $1,000-1,200) a month for their efforts.
According to the new report, five Muslim women who were members of the rioting groups have already been given distancing orders and have been forbidden from being on the Temple Mount.
