Cleric Imad Hamatu on PA TV Following Jerusalem Terror Attack: True Jihad Is Ribat in the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Palestinian cleric Sheikh Imad Hamatu said on July 15, following the terror attack in the Old City of Jerusalem, that "such blows [the closure of the Al-Aqsa Compound] awaken the slumbering body, and awaken the nation, which is drowning in its desires and doubts." Speaking on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel, he further said that the calls for Jihad for the sake of Allah, in Syria and elsewhere, "divert the compass from the true jihad of ribat in the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Sheikh Imad Hamatu: "Our nation did not come from across the sea. They are the ones who have come from here and from there. 'We divided them throughout the Earth into nations.' And then they came here to abolish history, to abolish geography, and to abolish our minds. As I always say, the Palestinian cause is the cause of the Arabs and the Muslims. There will never be peace, and there will never be a Palestinian state or a Palestinian foreign ministry. Jerusalem is the prize that Allah will award the [Islamic] nation on the day the entire nation reconciles with Allah. Therefore, such blows awaken the slumbering body, awaken the nation, which is drowning in its desires and doubts, and overshadow the great banners calling for jihad for the sake of Allah, but diverting the compass from the true jihad of ribat in the Al-Aqsa Mosque."