Endowments Minister Mahmūd Hamdī Zaqzūq held a press conference yesterday to announce the Supreme Council for Islamic Affair’s summit on the situation in Jerusalem that is to be held next February. During the conference, Zaqzūq renewed his call for Muslims to visit Jerusalem with an Israeli visa, saying that doing so would be beneficial for Arab and Palestinian rights in Jerusalem.

He says that the invitation was praised by leading Palestinians and argued that it would be good for the Palestinian economy. He then compared it to Prophet Muhammad’s visit to Mecca for ‘Umrah while it was still under the Kuffār’s rule. Zaqzūq’s first call upon Muslims to visit Jerusalem with an Israeli visa was fourteen years ago and was not received well by the public, causing some people to even call him an infidel.

Also during the conference, Zaqzūq said that freeing Jerusalem was every Muslim’s responsibility, adding that he neither approves or is afraid of the anti-Semitism law. He thinks that the Palestinian case must be discussed in light of Israel’s flagrant violations.

He added that inviting moderate Iranian and Jewish figures to attend the summit was still being considered and pointed out that inviting even one Jewish person would inevitably end in allegations of normalization.