ISRAEL: BACK OFF

Tells US stay out of it amid Jerusalem riots

Israel is warning the United States not to intervene in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces amid riots in the Old City of Jerusalem — after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed the Biden administration’s “serious concerns about the situation” in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart.

The violence escalated Monday, with Hamas firing at least 45 rockets from Gaza shortly after 6 p.m., according to the Israeli Army. One landed on the outskirts of Jerusalem, damaging a home. No casualties were reported.

Israel responded with air strikes that Palestinian health officials said killed at least 20 people, including nine children, in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

The conflict marks the first time the Biden administration has weighed in on Israel’s actions in the West Bank and Jerusalem following the Trump administration’s hands-off approach, Axios reported.

The Biden White House was reluctant to wade into the growing tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis that have been growing in the past few weeks, but members of Congress and progressive groups urged it to act.

Sullivan reached out to Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben Shabbat on Sunday to discuss the developments at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where some Palestinians are under threat of eviction.

According to a White House readout of the call, Sullivan raised “serious concerns about the situation in Jerusalem, including violent confrontations at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount during the last days of Ramadan.”

“Sullivan encouraged the Israeli government to pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm during Jerusalem Day commemorations,” the White House summary of the call said — referring to the Israeli national holiday on Monday commemorating the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War.

The statement said Sullivan and Ben Shabbat “agreed that the launching of rocket attacks and incendiary balloons from Gaza towards Israel is unacceptable and must be condemned.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also cautioned Israel to “exercise maximum restraint and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.”

But Israeli officials told Axios that the Biden administration and the international community should keep their distance.

“International intervention is a reward to the Palestinian rioters and those who back them who were seeking international pressure on Israel,” an Israeli official told Axios, adding that Israel is handling the crisis “from a position of sovereignty and responsibility regardless of Palestinian provocations.”

The hilltop where the mosque sits is known as the Temple Mount by Jews, who consider it one of the holiest places in the world.

More than 300 Palestinians were injured fighting in Jerusalem with Israeli forces who fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at rioters at the AlAqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, on Monday. Palestinian protesters responded by hurling stones at police.

Israeli police said 21 officers were hurt and seven civilians were injured.

In one incident, Palestinian protesters threw rocks at an Israeli vehicle driving outside the Old City walls, causing it to veer off the road, hit a bystander and crash into a stone barrier.

Monday’s skirmish follows days of encounters between Israelis and Palestinians amid growing tension over the evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last Friday said that he holds the Israeli government “responsible” for the unrest and expressed “full support for our heroes in Aqsa,” i24news reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas crossed a “red line” with the rocket attack on Jerusalem. “Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price,” he said.

Israeli police announced early Monday that Jews would be barred from visiting the holy site on Jerusalem Day, when crowds of flag-waving Israelis march through the Old City.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to serve as the capital of an Arab state including the West Bank and Gaza.