By: Fern Sidman

As Israel prepares for the upcoming High Holidays, Hamas has once again sought to inflame tensions in Jerusalem, issuing warnings over anticipated Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. In a statement released Thursday, Ha’arun Nasser al-Din, the Hamas official in charge of the terrorist group’s Jerusalem portfolio, characterized the traditional Jewish holiday visits as “settler incitement” and “a dangerous escalation” against what he described as the sanctity of Islamic holy places.

According to a report that appeared on Saturday on Israel National News (INN), Nasser al-Din’s rhetoric comes amid a broader Hamas campaign to reframe Jewish worship at Judaism’s holiest site as part of a so-called “religious war.” In his comments, the senior Hamas operative alleged that Jewish visits during Rosh Hashanah amounted to an organized effort to undermine the long-standing status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, while urging Palestinians to mobilize in response.

Nasser al-Din’s statement, covered extensively by INN, called on Palestinians across Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Israel’s Arab communities to converge on the Al-Aqsa compound during Rosh Hashanah. He exhorted them to “pray there and remain present” to prevent what he alleged would be Jewish “encroachment” by so-called settlers.

This choice of language — deliberately conflating Jewish worshippers with “settlers” and miscasting prayer as aggression — is part of Hamas’s long-standing propaganda strategy. As INN has frequently reported, Hamas routinely weaponizes religious sentiment to incite unrest around sensitive flashpoints, with the Temple Mount consistently used as a rallying cry for confrontation.

By invoking the notion of a “religious war,” Nasser al-Din sought to transform what are in fact regulated visits — overseen by Israeli police and consistent with decades of practice — into a pretext for broader Palestinian mobilization.

Analysts cited by INN noted that Hamas’s latest warnings reflect its diminished military capacity following months of war in Gaza. Traditionally, Hamas has attempted to exert pressure on Israel during the High Holidays through rocket fire or coordinated violence, using the Temple Mount as a trigger for conflict.

However, as the INN report highlighted, Hamas’s operational networks have been severely degraded by sustained IDF operations, limiting the group’s ability to launch large-scale attacks. In the absence of effective military options, Hamas leadership has sought to compensate by escalating rhetoric and encouraging mass protests.

Thus far, these efforts have yielded only limited results. Despite repeated calls for confrontation, Palestinian turnout in Jerusalem and the broader region has remained relatively muted, reflecting both public fatigue and heightened Israeli security measures.

The Temple Mount has long been one of the most sensitive and volatile sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the report at INN indicated, the site is revered as the holiest place in Judaism, believed to be the location of the First and Second Temples. For Muslims, it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which Hamas and other Islamist factions leverage to stir religious fervor and political agitation.

During past High Holidays, Jewish visits to the site have frequently drawn inflammatory responses from Hamas and allied groups, who claim — without basis — that Israel seeks to alter or dismantle the Islamic structures. Such accusations have fueled riots, violent confrontations, and, at times, wider escalations of conflict.

In reality, as the INN report emphasized, Jewish worship at the Temple Mount is tightly regulated, and the Israeli government has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to maintaining the delicate status quo. Still, Hamas continues to manipulate religious sensitivities to frame normal visitation as existential provocation.

Israeli officials are preparing for potential unrest during the upcoming holiday. As INN has reported, the Israel Police and border security units are expected to bolster their presence in Jerusalem, particularly around the Old City and Temple Mount compound, to deter violence and ensure orderly access for worshippers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has consistently stated that it will not tolerate Hamas incitement dictating the terms of religious access in Jerusalem. Senior Israeli officials, quoted by INN, argue that allowing Hamas’s threats to determine Jewish prayer rights would amount to rewarding terror tactics with veto power over freedom of worship.

This balancing act — protecting Jewish rights at their holiest site while preventing provocation that could escalate into broader conflict — remains one of the most challenging responsibilities for Israel’s security establishment.

Despite its fiery rhetoric, Hamas’s ability to translate calls for mass mobilization into concrete action appears limited. The report at INN pointed out that since the beginning of the Gaza war, Hamas has struggled to galvanize significant unrest in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria, where Palestinian Authority forces and Israeli security cooperation continue to suppress armed cells.

In recent months, Hamas-organized demonstrations calling for “defense of Al-Aqsa” have drawn only modest crowds, illustrating a growing gap between Hamas’s maximalist slogans and the willingness of local Palestinians to heed them. Some analysts argue that after years of repeated cycles of incitement and violence, Hamas’s credibility among Jerusalemites is eroding.

The Temple Mount issue is also closely watched by regional powers and international actors. As the report at INN noted, Jordan, which administers the Islamic Waqf overseeing the site, remains sensitive to any perceived changes to the status quo. Hamas’s statements risk inflaming not only local tensions but also straining Israel’s delicate ties with neighboring states.

Meanwhile, international media often amplify Hamas’s framing of the issue, portraying Jewish visitors as provocateurs rather than as worshippers exercising religious rights. This dynamic, the INN report observed, sheds light on Hamas’s skill at leveraging symbolic issues for global propaganda, even as its military leverage diminishes.

Ha’arun Nasser al-Din’s threats ahead of Rosh Hashanah fit a familiar pattern: when weakened militarily, Hamas turns to incitement around religious sites to maintain relevance. By portraying Jewish prayer as an existential assault on Islam, the group seeks to inflame tensions and rally supporters.

Yet as INN has consistently reported, Hamas’s ability to transform rhetoric into mass mobilization appears increasingly constrained. For Israel, the challenge remains ensuring security and freedom of worship while denying Hamas the opportunity to dictate terms through intimidation.

As the High Holidays approach, Israel’s security services will be tested once again on Jerusalem’s most combustible stage. The coming days will determine whether Hamas’s words remain rhetorical posturing — or whether they succeed in sparking the unrest the group so desperately seeks.