This article appeared in American Thinker.

Palestinian Authority leader Rami Hamdallah has just warned of “grave consequences” and called on Muslims to “shoulder their responsibilities and put a stop to Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and to provide international protection for our people and holy places.” The Fatah Party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for a “Day of Rage”. Other Palestinian Authority spokesmen condemned the Israeli “fierce and organized attack against Jerusalem Arabs”. There have been nightly violent protest riots, in which large groups of Palestinians have assaulted Israeli police with rocks and bottles.

Reading the above, one would surmise that the Israelis must have done something really horrific.

The Israelis’ crime? Installing metal detectors on the Temple Mount, and closing the Mount for two days due to extreme security concerns, immediately after Muslims shot two Israeli policemen dead there last Friday in a terror attack, and the discovery of numerous weapons being stored by Muslims on the Temple Mount.

Yes, the Israeli “crime” was that it dared to install metal detectors at the scene of a double-murder of its policemen and take basic security precautions. The Muslim terrorists are not the villains, but the Israeli police, who keep the Mount safe and allow innumerable Muslims to safely ascend there for prayer every day are the evildoers, in the warped mindset of Palestinian leadership.

And there is more: Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein, the Temple Mount’s chief Muslim cleric, has just warned Muslim worshipers that they should violate security protocol and refuse to enter through the metal detectors, as “Allah will not accept offered prayers through a Zionist metal detector” (!). Never mind that Saudi King Salman, who is the official custodian of the Temple Mount’s mosques, expressed a full understanding of the Israeli security upgrade. Never mind that the Saudis themselves have mandated the use of GPS bracelets at the annual Hajj pilgrimage to prevent violence and injury amidst the millions of Muslims who travel to their prayer site in packed crowds for the Hajj’ rock-throwing ritual. Never mind that the violence and terror at the Temple Mount are solely the work of Muslims, and that the Israelis have acted with civility to assure security. Palestinian leadership, whose tools are deception, intimidation and violence, know better.

The West Bank security wall has greatly curbed Palestinian terror. Hopefully, the Temple Mount metal detectors will do the same. But the ingrates who ascend the Temple Mount to ask Allah to curse the Israelis, and who celebrate terror against Israelis, have it too good. Most countries would severely crack down on them, shut the Mount’s mosques for an extended period, and take really forceful action.

The Israelis act with restraint but with a strong dose of reality. And Palestinian leadership responds with lies, delusion and violence.

May God help.