It’s a religion of peace and tolerance, and you’re a greasy Islamophobe if you think otherwise. And you can’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, because Muslims will riot. That’s right, the adherents of the religion of peace and tolerance.
“One dead, scores hurt in Palestinian ‘Day of Rage’ over Jerusalem,” by Ali Sawafta, Reuters, December 8, 2017:
JERUSALEM/GAZA – At least one person was killed and scores were hurt in clashes with Israeli troops on Friday as thousands of Palestinians demonstrated on a “Day of Rage” against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Across the Arab and Muslim worlds, thousands more protesters took to the streets on the Muslim holy day, expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and outrage at Trump’s reversal of decades of U.S. policy.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man near the Gaza border, the first confirmed death in two days of unrest.
The Israeli army said hundreds of Palestinians were rolling burning tires and throwing rocks at soldiers across the border.
“During the riots IDF soldiers fired selectively towards two main instigators and hits were confirmed,” it said.
More than 80 Palestinians were wounded in the occupied West Bank and Gaza by Israeli live fire and rubber bullets, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service. Dozens more suffered from tear gas inhalation. Thirty-one were wounded on Thursday.
As Friday prayers ended at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, worshippers made their way toward the walled Old City gates, chanting “Jerusalem is ours, Jerusalem is our capital” and “We don’t need empty words, we need stones and Kalashnikovs.” Scuffles broke out between protesters and police.
In Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus, dozens of Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers who fired back with tear gas.
In Gaza, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, calls for worshippers to protest sounded over mosque loudspeakers. Hamas has called for a new Palestinian uprising like the “intifadas” of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, which together saw thousands of Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis killed.
“Whoever moves his embassy to occupied Jerusalem will become an enemy of the Palestinians and a target of Palestinian factions,” said Hamas leader Fathy Hammad as protesters in Gaza burned posters of Trump.
“We declare an intifada until the liberation of Jerusalem and all of Palestine.”
Protests largely died down as night fell. Rocket sirens sounded in southern Israeli towns near the Gaza border, and the Israeli military said it had intercepted one of at least two projectiles fired from Gaza. No damage or casualties were reported….
In Ramallah, the seat of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, the leader’s religious affairs adviser said Trump’s stance was an affront to Islam and Christianity alike.
“America has chosen to elect a president who has put it in enmity with all Muslims and Christians,” said Mahmoud al-Habbash.
In Iran, which has never recognized Israel and supports anti-Israel militants, demonstrators burned pictures of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while chanting “Death to the Devil.” Opposition to the U.S. move has united Iran’s pragmatist faction, which supports greater openness to the outside world, with hardliners who oppose it.
In Cairo, capital of Egypt, a U.S. ally which has a peace treaty with Israel, hundreds of protesters who had gathered in Al-Azhar mosque and outside in its courtyard chanted “Jerusalem is Arab! O Trump, you madman, the Arab people are everywhere!”
The imam leading Friday prayer at Al-Azhar said the U.S. plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem was a “terrorist decision.” The mosque’s Imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, rejected an invitation to meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
Large demonstrations also took place in Jordan, Tunisia, Somalia, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia….