File photo
Hundreds of Jewish settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, according to a Palestinian official.
“Some 200 settlers stormed the compound under the protection of Israeli police,” Firas al-Dibs, a Palestinian official with Jerusalem’s Religious Endowments Authority (which oversees the city's Muslim and Christian holy sites), said in a statement.
According to al-Dibs, the settlers were accompanied by Israeli MP Shuli Mualem of the right-wing Jewish Home party.
In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lifted a three-year ban on Israeli government officials and lawmakers visiting Al-Aqsa, allowing members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) to visit the flashpoint site once every three months.
Software made by an Israeli cyber security firm was used to track murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower claimed Wednesday.Addressing a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel via a video call from Russia, Edward Snowden said Pegasus spyware sold to governments by NSO Group Technologies was used to track opponents. “The Saudis, of course, knew that Khashoggi was going to go to the consulate, as he got an appointment. But how did they know his intention and plans?”Khashoggi, a Saudi national and columnist for The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.EU urges Saudi cooperation with Turkish Khashoggi probeGermany says all behind Khashoggi murder should be punishedOnce inside, he was immediately strangled and then dismembered, according to the Istanbul Prosecutor’s office.After announcing he was killed, Saudi Arabia has yet to reveal the location of Khashoggi’s body.Snowden said the smartphone of one of Khashoggi’s friends, who was living in exile in Canada, had been infected with NSO’s Pegasus spyware.He said the software allowed the Saudis to collect information about Khashoggi.“The truth is that they pursued some of his friends through a program written by the Israeli company.”A report issued by Canadian research institute Citizen Lab said: “We have high confidence that the cellphone of Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist and Canadian permanent resident, was targeted and infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.”The software, which allows almost unlimited surveillance of mobile phones, is seen as the world's most powerful mobile spyware application.Snowden, who leaked thousands of documents detailing a long-term surveillance program by the U.S. government, was granted asylum by Russia in 2013 after the U.S charged him with espionage.His residence permit in Russia was extended until 2020.Saudi prince launches country's 1st nuke plant projectSaudis sent 'clean-up' team to Turkey after Khashoggi killing, official says
Saudis used Israeli spyware to track Khashoggi: Snowden
In late 2015, Netanyahu had banned MPs from entering the Al-Aqsa compound in an effort to calm tensions that had erupted across the Israeli-occupied West Bank following repeated incursions by Jewish settlers into the site.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Middle East War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as its “eternal and undivided” capital in a move never recognized by the international community.