Watan-The preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, responded to calls from extremist Jewish groups demanding the slaughter of the “Red Heifer” near the sacred sanctuary of Jerusalem.

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri said in a statement to Al Jazeera: “The issue of the Red Heifer is their myths, we have nothing to do with it, and we do not allow this Red Heifer, which they claim, to be associated with the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque… Let them take their cow wherever they want and wherever they go, it has no connection to the blessed Al-Aqsa.”

The preacher of Al-Aqsa added that every action taken by the occupation contributes to attempts to dominate and control the blessed mosque. He explained that these incursions constitute aggression against Al-Aqsa and a violation of its sanctity, and they will not gain any rights through these aggressive incursions, which are carried out under strict guard, because they are aggressors and dare not enter the mosque except under the protection of security forces.

@aljazeera_mubasher تعليقًا على قرب “جماعات الهيكل” ذبح البقرة الحمراء.. الشيخ عكرمة صبري: فليأخذوا بقرتهم أينما شاؤوا وأينما ذهبوا #الجزيرة_مباشر #المسجد_الأقصى ♬ original sound – الجزيرة مباشر

Abu Ubaida’s warning

It is worth mentioning that “Abu Ubaida,” the spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” mentioned in a speech mid-January last year that the Israeli occupation’s Red Heifers “have become ready with them.”

Abu Ubaida’s statements were a reference to the danger threatening the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The extremist religious groups had held a conference more than a week ago to discuss preparations for slaughtering the Red Heifer on the Mount of Olives in occupied Jerusalem opposite the Al-Aqsa Mosque, then burning it and mixing its ashes with the waters of Ein Silwan, claiming to purify Jews from the “impurity of the dead,” in cooperation with the so-called “Temple Mount Administration.”

Five Red Heifers are being cared for in the “Old Shiloh” settlement north of Ramallah, brought in by a special flight in September 2022, after being genetically engineered in private farms in the state of Texas, USA.

The extremist groups call for the slaughter of the Red Heifer and purification with its ashes according to the date recorded in their religious texts, on the second of Nisan according to the Hebrew calendar, which this year corresponds to the tenth of April, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Fitr.

According to Torah beliefs, the Chief Rabbinate in Israel prohibits Jews under a “religious ruling” from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque until the appearance of the “savior Messiah” and the beginning of salvation, when Jews are allowed what they call “ascending to the Temple Mount,” entering the mosque’s courtyards, and starting to build the Third Temple, according to the beliefs of the Council of Torah Sages.