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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, 5 Cheshvan spoke to the media to send a message in response to France’s call to place a multinational force to maintain order on Har Habayis.

“Israel cannot accept the French draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council. It doesn’t mention Palestinian incitement; it doesn’t mention Palestinian terrorism; and it calls for the internationalization of Har Habayis.

“Well, we’ve seen across the Middle East – in Palmyra, in Iraq, throughout Iraq and elsewhere how the militant Muslims blast each other’s mosques to the sky. We’ve just seen it in a Jewish holy site, Joseph’s Tomb. Only Israel, Israel alone, is the guarantor of the holy sites on the Temple Mount.

“The reason the status quo has been violated is not because we changed it. We didn’t change anything. The orders of prayer, the visiting rights have not changed for the last 15 years. The only thing that’s changed are Islamist hoodlums paid by the Islamist Movement in Israel and by Hamas, who are entering the mosque and try to put explosive [unclear]and from there emerge and attack Jewish visitors to Har Habayis, and Christian visitors. That’s the only change in the status quo.

Israel will protect the holy sites, will guard the status quo. Israel is not the problem on Har Habayis. Israel is the solution”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)