UAE summons “Israeli” ambassador after Aqsa Mosque provocations

The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry summoned the “Israeli” ambassador Yossi Shelly, according to an official statement carried by the official news agency WAM.

The UAE summoned the ambassador to “condemn in the strongest terms the deplorable and offensive violations against the Palestinian people that took place in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.”

“The UAE underscored that these provocative, arbitrary practices represent dangerous incitement against Muslims, and are a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the holy city,” the statement said.

The ministry also emphasized the need to respect the custodial role of Jordan over the holy sites in accordance with international law and historical status.

The statement comes after crowds of “Israelis” streamed through Jerusalem's Old City, where some scuffled with residents and hurled insults at Palestinians, as annual celebrations of “Israel's” capture of east Jerusalem took place on Monday.

“Israel” considers all of Jerusalem, including the annexed Palestinian-majority east, its indivisible capital.

The international community, however, does not recognise this, and Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Far-right “Israeli” minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Monday visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, to mark the occasion, which was being held for a second year under the shadow of the war on Gaza.

Every year, thousands of “Israeli” nationalists, many of them religious Jews, march through Jerusalem and its annexed Old City, including in predominantly Palestinian neighbourhoods, waving Israeli flags, dancing and accosting residents.