Palestinians Use Photo-Fracas to Call for Jerusalem Declaration to be Rescinded

The Palestinian Authority is seizing upon the fracas over a doctored photograph of the Temple Mount with the Jewish temple superimposed where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque presently stand being shown to United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to call for President Trump to rescind his recognition that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. Palestinians reacted angrily to news photos of the faked photo in the ambassador’s presence, calling it “racist” and “bigoted.” Speaking for the PA, aide to President Abbas Mahmoud Al-Habash demanded “an apology from [Ambassador Friedman] personally and from the American administration, in addition to his dismissal, the cancellation of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the closure of the American settlement that was opened in Jerusalem and called embassy.” The incident occurred during the ambassador’s visit to a Jewish religious organization near Tel Aviv. The US Embassy issued a statement reiterating US policy of maintaining the status quo in Jerusalem and asserting that the ambassador was unaware of what was being thrust at him. New media reports indicate that Israel now wants the US to recognize Israeli sovereign over the Golan Heights, taken from Syria in 1967.