JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Jordanian government minister condemned Israel’s construction of a new prayer space south of the existing Western Wall Plaza.
Jordan’s state minister for media affairs, Mohammad Momani, on Monday called the construction of a platform in the area for egalitarian prayer “a blatant attack on the Muslim monuments and Wakf land which is an integral part of the Al-Aksa Mosque,” the Petra News Agency reported. The Al-Aksa Mosque is located on the Temple Mount.
Momani called on “Israeli occupation authorities to remove the stage and the damage it caused as soon as possible.”
He also warned of the continuing call of “Jewish settlers and extremists’ to storm the Al-Aksa Mosque under the pretext of Jewish holidays,” according to Petra. Jewish groups visit the Temple Mount, but participants are not allowed to pray at the site. The Islamic Wakf trust oversees the Temple Mount and the mosque there.
