A Palestinian militant clashes with an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem's Old City on February 28. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — Israeli police have entered the Temple Mount compound after Palestinians began throwing stones during rioting in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Police entered the Temple Mount compound on Sunday morning (February 28) to remove Palestinians youths who had barricaded themselves in the Al-Aksa Mosque on Saturday night and on Sunday began throwing rocks at police and non-Muslim visitors to the site.

The police reportedly surrounded the mosque but did not enter it. At least eight Palestinians in the mosque reportedly were hurt by tear gas.

Two police and two border guards were injured in the streets of the Old City by stones thrown by Palestinian youth. Seven protesters were arrested.

Since Saturday night, police have restricted entry to the mosque to men with Israeli identity cards over the age of 50 and to women of all ages. Visits to the Temple Mount by Jews and non-Jews continued on Sunday.

The Wakf and Islamic organizations called on Muslims to gather at the Temple Mount, saying that “radical Jewish organizations” have called on followers to lay a cornerstone for a temple on the site.
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A Palestinian supporter protests outside the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 19. Photo: Peter Haskin

AJN STAFF

A SMALL group of Palestinian supporters held a protest outside the Australian Open on Tuesday afternoon (January 19).

The Australians For Palestine group, which numbered fewer than 10, singled out Israel’s top tennis player Shahar Peer for criticism. The protest was peaceful, but after a time, the demonstrators were asked by police to leave.

The group, most of who were dressed in corporate attire, held placards with a photo of Peer in her Israel Defence Forces uniform. The slogan on the placard read: “Shahar Peer serves for apartheid Israel”.

According to a flyer distributed by Australians For Palestine, Peer has been singled out because she “has shown no understanding of the oppressive conditions under which Palestinian athletes are forced to live, but rather sees herself as a victim of discrimination”.

Peer, who refrains from making political statements, has been the target of anti-Israeli protests. Most recently, she was heckled at a tournament in Auckland. She also came to global attention last year when the United Arab Emirates, host of the Dubai Tennis Championship, refused to issue the Israeli citizen with a visa.

A member of the Women of the Wall organisation wearing tephilin and prayer shawls at the Kotel. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM -– About 200 members of the Women of the Wall organisation took part in the Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Kotel on December 18 and to protest the recent arrest of a fellow member at the site.

Ultra-Orthodox worshipers shouted abusive slogans at the women when they were seen putting on tephilin and prayer shawls and carrying Torah scrolls.

In mainstream Orthodox practice women are not permitted to wear tephilin or prayer shawls and additionally read publicly from a Torah scroll. This certainly holds true at the Kotel.

The Women of the Wall organisation said that the group’s actions were not intended as a provocation, but rather a protest at the government’s discrimination against women.

Last month, police arrested a woman, Nofat Frankel, who was praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, due to the fact that she was wrapped in a prayer shawl at the site. This was seen to be very provocative to both Orthodox men and women
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Kristallnacht

AJN STAFF

IN late 1938 an elderly Aboriginal man named William Cooper delivered a letter of protest to the German consulate in Melbourne over the persecution of the Jews on Kristallnacht.

He was one of very few voices of protest -– nationally and internationally – against the rise of Nazism.

A documentary program about William Cooper (1861–1941) and his passionate advocacy for human rights titled One Blood will be broadcast during ABC Radio National’s Awaye! program on December 5 at 6pm.

Freelance producer Jessica Noske-Turner has produced the documentary after being inspired by the spirit and humanity of Cooper, who lived at Cummeragunga, the former Aboriginal mission station on the Murray River in Victoria.
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Jewish women worship at the Western Wall on the eve of Yom Kippur. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM  — Some 150 Palestinians surrounded and threw stones at Jewish worshipers visiting the Temple Mount on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Israeli police fired stun grenades and tear gas at the attackers on Sunday September 27 -– Kol Nidrei.

Nine police and 15 Palestinian attackers reportedly were injured. Police also arrested eight Palestinian youth whom they say attacked them.

The Temple Mount, which houses two Muslim mosques — al-Aksa and the Dome of the Rock — overlooks the Western Wall, where prayers continued undisturbed on Sunday.

Following the incident, the Temple Mount was closed to Jewish visitors, although not to Palestinians. Several Palestinian stone-throwing incidents also were reported in the Old City of Jerusalem following the attack.

On Saturday night, a closure was imposed on the West Bank until after the Yom Kippur holiday.

JTA

Rabbi Eliezar Waldman

EFRAT WEISS

JERUSALEM - Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, the head of the “Nir” yeshiva in the West Bank town of Kiryat Arba, called US President Barack Obama “racist” at a mass demonstration in Jerusalem on Monday evening.

Waldman was speaking during a mass rally in Paris Square in protest of the American demand that Israel halt all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

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Police arrest an ultra-Orthodox demonstrator in Jerusalem on June 27.

JERUSALEM — At least 28 fervently Orthodox protesters were arrested during riots over the Sabbath opening of a Jerusalem parking lot.

A six-year-old boy, four police officers and a 20-year-old Charedi man were wounded in the continuing protests on Saturday as the demonstrators threw rotten fruit, rocks and soiled nappies at police.

At least 1000 demonstrators who supported Mayor Nir Barkat’s decision to open the lot to Saturday visitors to Jerusalem protested nearby.

Violent protests spread to several of Jerusalem’s fervently Orthodox neighborhoods. After the end of the Sabbath, protesters set fire to garbage bins. 

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Ultra-Orthodox protesters in Jerusalem on June 27. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — At least 28 fervently Orthodox protesters were arrested during riots over the Sabbath opening of a Jerusalem parking lot. A six-year-old boy, four police officers and a 20-year-old Charedi man were wounded in the continuing protests on Saturday as the demonstrators threw rotten fruit, rocks and soiled nappies at police.

At least 1000 demonstrators who supported Mayor Nir Barkat’s decision to open the lot to Saturday visitors to Jerusalem protested nearby.

Violent protests spread to several of Jerusalem’s fervently Orthodox neighborhoods. After the end of the Sabbath, protesters set fire to garbage bins.
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