Extremist Israeli Temple Mount groups have pledged large cash prizes for settlers who successfully slaughter animal sacrifices at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish Passover holiday, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
The fanatical Israeli settler groups promised to pay NIS25,000 to any settler who slaughters a sheep inside the third holiest place on earth for Muslims and NIS2,500 for any extremist settler detained for attempting to bring a sheep inside Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Passover starts on 5 April and coincides with the third week of the holy month of Ramadan. Planned settler raids and violations are expected to trigger a wave of tension in the already heated flashpoint site.
Meanwhile, in a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Thursday, 15 rabbis urged it was in the “national interest” of Israel to allow the slaughter of animals at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“We want to offer the Passover sacrifice in its rightful place and at its rightful time despite all the difficulties. We ask to open the temple site to allow the messengers of the people of Israel to renew the sacrifice,” they wrote in their letter.
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Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism has warned of the dangers of Israeli measures related to Al-Aqsa Mosque, citing the expected plans to allow Israeli settlers to slaughter animal sacrifices inside its sanctuary yards during Passover.
“This is a dangerous plan and an unprecedented escalation and provocation of feelings of all Muslims on earth during the holy month of Ramadan,” Al-Azhar Observatory announced in a statement on Friday.
Al-Azhar Observatory also warned: “The campaigns of the extremist Zionists will trigger a wave of hate and violence.”
The Khateeb of Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Mohammad Hussein said that the great number of Muslim worshippers who performed Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque proves people are ready to guard and protect it.
The Endowment Department in Jerusalem estimated that 250,000 Palestinian worshippers performed Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of Ramadan.
READ: Tens of thousands of Palestinians perform Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque