Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi. (Flash90)

Israeli-Arab MK Tibi was deeply involved in the Palestinian Authority-orchestrated riots staged on the Temple Mount earlier this week.

By TPS

The Muslim riots on the Temple Mount on Sunday during the Fast of Tisha B’Av were planned, and Israeli-Arab Member of Knesset Ahmed Tibi advised the Palestinian Authority (PA) on its strategy, a source has told TPS.

Muslims rioting at the holy site as Jews attempted to visit the compound were answering the call of Muslim leaders in Jerusalem who called on the city’s Muslims to visit the Temple Mount and fight the Jews visiting the site.

Ziad Ayoubi, head of the Arab Center for Strategic Studies in Ramallah, told TPS that the political and religious leadership in Jerusalem has banded together to fight the Israeli police on the Temple Mount.

He emphasized that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah were leading the violence on the Temple Mount, but claimed the acts were “self-defense” against the “settlers and the Jews.”

He noted that while the Islamic Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Israel, does not maintain ties with the PA, Arab MKs do.

He said that Tibi and the other Arab MKs, who are representatives of the “inner occupation” as he called Israel, “advised and are in contact with the Palestinian Authority on a regular basis, on diplomatic issues and on the issue of Jerusalem and the mosques.”

Tibi was seen on the Temple Mount on Sunday together with Jerusalem’s Mufti Mohammed Hussein. They were both welcomed as heroes by the Muslims worshipers.