Where’s the Coverage? PA Accuses Israel of Trying to Destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque to Rebuild “Alleged Temple”

On Oct. 2, 2012, Palestinian Media Watch issued a report detailing repeated accusations in official Palestinian Authority media that Israel is attempting to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. This occured on at least five occasions in September alone. One example appeared in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on Sept. 20, 2012:

The Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places … declared that Jerusalem today is very different from the Islamic and Christian Jerusalem, since acts of Judaization, including demolition, destruction, and banishment, have made the occupied city into something different, [something] adapted to the Jews’ extremist goals, and it (the Council) warned that the these programs’ crowning achievement will be the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the building of the alleged Temple on its ruins.

Jerusalem was founded as the Jewish capital by King David approximately three thousand years ago. It was holy to Jews before it ever was holy to Christians or Muslims and therefore impossible to “Judaize.”

Note the reference by the PA media to “the alleged Temple”. PMW writes:

The use of the term “alleged Temple” to deny Jewish history has been PA policy under Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for many years. In August, after Abbas himself used the expression, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the term “alleged Temple” had been used nearly 100 times in 2011-2012. As this report documents, the PA continues to use the term.

Both Jews and Muslims lay claim to the Temple Mount and it is one of the thorny issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet, anyone with the most basic understanding of religious history knows that Christianity acknowledges the existence of the Temple. After all, in Matthew 21:12, Jesus throws the money changers out of the Temple, not the “alleged” Temple. No one with any credibility can deny the historical fact of the Jewish Temple as thousands of archeological finds support the existence of not one but two Temples on the site.

Absurd accusations that Israel is attempting to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque have been covered by some Jewish media but they have not made it into any of the popular press. Perhaps, you’re thinking to yourself, if a world leader made this accusation at, say, the United Nations General Assembly, then major media outlets would cover it. Think again. On Sept. 25, 2012, King Abdullah of Jordan stood before the world and declared:

We are extremely concerned by threats to Jerusalem and the sanctity of its Muslim and Christian holy sites… [A]ny attempt to erase the Arab, Muslim, or Christian identity of Jerusalem will not be tolerated.

So then… Where’s the coverage?