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Source: https://www.jns.org/jns/mahmoud-abbas/23/6/1/292200/
Mahmoud Abbas' Ridiculous Temple Denial
(JNS) Farley Weiss and Leonard Grunstein - Mahmoud Abbas, in his speech at the UN on May 15, denied once again that there was any proof of a Jewish link to the Temple Mount. In doing so, he ignored the overwhelming archeological, documentary and historical evidence of the Jewish Temples, including non-Jewish historical writings and documentary sources, as well as a substantial and growing body of archeological evidence. The ninth-century Muslim historian Al-Tabari gave a detailed account of the decision by Omar, the great Caliph who conquered Jerusalem, not to place a mosque on the site of the Jewish Temple and, instead, to locate the Al-Aqsa mosque outside of the Temple precincts. Muthir al-Ghiram, a 14th-century Arab historian of Islamic traditions, provided a similar account, emphasizing Omar's intention to separate the Muslim prayer site and rituals from those holy to the Jews. Muslim scholars like eighth-century Abd al-Rahman and 13th to 14th centuries Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya rejected the idea that Islamic tradition attributes any sanctity to the Temple Mount for Muslims. In more modern times, the Waqf's own Brief Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, Jerusalem, published in 1925, explicitly stated about the Temple Mount: "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute." Farley Weiss is chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF). Leonard Grunstein serves on the AIPAC National Council.