Ikrima Sabri: Aqsa incursions go beyond numbers as Israel seeks to impose new religious, political reality

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Sabri said the seriousness of what is happening cannot be measured solely by the number of settlers entering the Mosque. He pointed to accompanying practices, including collective prayers, the introduction of religious symbols and materials, and attempts to establish new rituals inside the courtyards with official political backing.

He stressed that the real danger lies not only in the incursions themselves but in what they are intended to establish.

“Every new ritual that is permitted, every step that is allowed to pass, and every Israeli official who enters the Mosque and performs rituals there is intended, over time, to be transformed from an exception into an established reality,” Sabri said.

According to Sabri, Jewish holidays in recent years have increasingly become occasions for escalating attacks on Aqsa. He said the Israeli occupation is moving beyond repeated incursions toward attempts to impose a new religious and political reality inside the Mosque, taking advantage of the repeated nature of these practices and their gradual normalization as part of the daily scene.

The Aqsa preacher said the participation of Israeli ministers and officials in the incursions carries significance beyond their personal presence, as it provides government backing for practices led by settler groups and demonstrates the connection between the activities of these groups and official Israeli policies.

Sabri stressed that public prayers and rituals, as well as the introduction of what are referred to as “plant offerings,” are not isolated incidents but part of a broader process aimed at changing the Mosque’s identity and its religious and historical status.

He warned that the danger increases when previously limited practices develop into organized activities carried out under police protection.

Sabri stressed that the entire 144-dunum Aqsa Mosque compound is an exclusively Islamic place of worship for Muslims and that attempts to impose new rituals there do not change its identity. He said such measures are paving the way for attempts to impose a temporal and spatial division of the Mosque.

His remarks came after 1,792 settlers entered Aqsa Mosque on Monday during morning and evening periods, including far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

According to figures from the Jerusalem Governorate, the incursions were accompanied by public Jewish rituals and tighter restrictions on the entry and movement of Muslim worshipers.

A day earlier, 1,500 settlers stormed Aqsa, bringing in “plant offerings” and performing prayers near Bab al-Qattanin, or the Cotton Merchants’ Gate.

Zionist regime’s police forces also forced shopkeepers in the market leading to the holy site to close their businesses, extending the impact of the incursions to the livelihoods and daily lives of Palestinian residents.

Sabri warned against treating Aqsa as an arena for political and electoral competition in which Israeli political figures seek to demonstrate their ability to cross previous boundaries and impose additional practices, raising the level of attacks from one period to the next.

“What used to happen in whispers is now happening openly. What used to be prohibited is now protected, and what used to be carried out by small groups now involves political officials,” he said.

In response to these developments, Sabri called for breaking the silence and media blackout surrounding events in Occupied Jerusalem and Aqsa. He warned that reducing coverage to the number of settlers entering the Mosque or isolated images of incursions obscures the nature of the changes being gradually imposed inside the compound.

He stressed that Jerusalem today needs sustained media attention rather than occasional coverage tied to a single image of an incursion or a breaking-news event.

“When the media remains silent about the details of what is happening, small violations turn into major realities,” Sabri said.

He called on media outlets, religious and human rights organizations, journalists and activists to keep Jerusalem at the forefront of public attention, document developments and explain their significance.

Sabri warned that repeatedly showing such scenes without explaining their objectives allows the Israeli occupation to present them as an ordinary and accepted part of the reality at Aqsa Mosque.