MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal

By Elhanan Miller, The Times of Israel – “Responding to unconfirmed rumors that US President Barack Obama intends to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during his trip to Israel next month, the Hamas terror group and local clerics warned the American leader against the idea on Tuesday, calling it ‘a diplomatic catastrophe.’

A statement issued by Hamas called Obama’s potential visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located at the southern perimeter of the Mount, ‘an imminent danger which the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem have never faced.’

Hamas stated that a visit by the American president to the contested site under the auspices of ‘the Zionist occupation’ would be more dangerous than the relocation of any country’s embassy to Jerusalem, considering the international preeminence of the United States.

The Temple Mount, revered by Jews as the site of the first and second temples and by Muslims as the point from which Muhammad ascended to heaven, is administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a trust that has governed the site since the 12th century.

Ekrima Sabri, who used to administer the Temple Mount as mufti of Jerusalem and currently heads the High Islamic Council in Jerusalem, told The Times of Israel that Obama would be allowed to visit the site only if he abided by three conditions.

According to a protocol drafted by the Waqf in 1967, official visitors may enter the Temple Mount through any of its 11 gates excluding the Mughrabi Gate, which is connected to the Western Wall plaza by a bridge.

‘The Israeli army stole the keys to that gate from the Islamic Waqf, so entry through that gate gives the impression that Israel has sovereignty over Al-Aqsa,’ Sabri said.

‘We insist on Muslim sovereignty over the Temple Mount,’ he said.” Read more.