MEND STATEMENT: Attack on Worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

In what appears to be becoming a yearly occurrence during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Israeli police violently raided Al-Aqsa Mosque for two consecutive nights and attacked worshippers observing night prayers.

Distressing videos circulating on social media show heavily armed Israeli police officers firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at worshippers before storming inside the mosque and brutally beating defenceless congregants with batons and riot guns while women and children scream for help. Hundreds of injured Palestinians were arrested over the course of two nights.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) received numerous reports of injuries at the mosque but could not estimate the number of casualties as Israeli police prevented medics from reaching the injured. One medic was even attacked and injured by an Israeli police officer.

Much of the UK press have either failed to report these atrocities or labelled such violence by armed police against unarmed worshippers as “clashes”, including BBC News and Sky News. This blatantly misrepresents the reality of what is occurring. Such framing is a betrayal of honest reporting and serves only to legitimise and obscure the scale of oppression Palestinians face in occupied Palestine.

Meanwhile, the UK Government remains overwhelmingly silent on these heinous acts of aggression.

Ultimately, MEND stands in solidarity with worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and calls on the press to accurately report on the crimes committed against Palestinians and urges the UK Government to urgently condemn the violence against Palestinians and hold the Israeli Government to account.