Rami al-Khatib, an independent press photographer working as a documentarian for the Islamic Waqf on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was banned from the site for six months earlier this week by Jerusalem District Police Commander Avshalom Peled, who claimed his activity amounted to incitement and could lead to unrest and risks to public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rami al-Khatib is a well-known figure in the Palestinian-Jerusalemite landscape. He works as an independent media figure and photographer, but most of his activity is carried out on behalf of the Islamic Waqf\u2019s media and communications department at Al-Aqsa Mosque. His work focuses on documenting daily events at the compound, especially clashes, Jewish visits to the Temple Mount and the activity of Israeli security forces. He is considered an official media voice of the Waqf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Khatib is highly active on social media platforms, mainly Facebook and Instagram, where he uploads videos and posts accompanied by politically and religiously charged commentary. Israeli authorities view some of the content as incitement, including praise for \u201cmartyrs\u201d and calls for active resistance to the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, al-Khatib publishes posts referring to young Palestinians clashing with police as \u201cthe heroic defenders of Al-Aqsa\u201d and describes their actions as a supreme religious duty against what he calls \u201cZionist invasions.\u201d Jewish visits to the compound are described by him as \u201csettlers\u2019 raids\u201d or \u201cTalmudic rituals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to security officials, al-Khatib uses his camera and presence to encourage \u201cMurabitoon\u201d – Palestinian worshippers who remain at the site in order to disrupt Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. In some cases, officials claim his media activity supports narratives associated with organizations viewed by Israel as extremist and fuels religious tensions surrounding the Palestinian slogan \u201cAl-Aqsa is in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Khatib frequently uses religious terminology regarding the struggle over the Temple Mount. In one statement previously cited in legal contexts, he wrote: \u201cAl-Aqsa is not only a place of prayer, it is the battlefield for the honor of the \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0645\u0629. Any retreat is betrayal.\u201d He consistently refers to Israeli police forces operating at the site as the \u201coccupation army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, al-Khatib and the Waqf argue that the move is political persecution and an attack on freedom of the press. According to them, the ban is intended to \u201cempty the area of documenting eyes\u201d in order to allow police to operate without media scrutiny. Even after previous bans, he reportedly continued broadcasting live from areas surrounding the Temple Mount, such as Lions\u2019 Gate, making him one of the most influential figures shaping public opinion in East Jerusalem regarding the Temple Mount issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Rami al-Khatib, an independent press photographer working as a documentarian for the Islamic Waqf on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was banned from the site for six months earlier this week by Jerusalem District Police Commander Avshalom Peled, who claimed his activity amounted to incitement and could lead to unrest and risks to public safety. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":181151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9320","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,184,68],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-181150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-184","9":"category-68"},"acf":{"subtitle":"The removal of Rami al-Khatib from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem raises questions about where the line passes between journalism, incitement and influence on the ground"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181150"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181176,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181150\/revisions\/181176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}