The PA routinely denies the existence of any Jewish history in Israel in general and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in particular.

Tisha B’Av is a Jewish day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE) and the forced exile of most of the Jewish people from the land of Israel.

On and around Tisha B’Av this year, (July 18), PA leaders and officials were busy yet again denying that those temples ever existed, despite countless written sources, archaeological finds, and historical evidence documenting their existence. The Arch of Titus in Rome, for example, depicts Judean slaves carrying away the candelabra and other artifacts of the Temple after it was destroyed by Titus in 70 CE, and this Second Temple period coin from approximately 40 BCE also depicts the Temple’s candelabra.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA routinely denies the existence of any Jewish history in Israel in general and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in particular, consistently referring to it as “the alleged Temple.” In addition, the PA falsely claims that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger of destruction by Israel as Israel seeks to “Judaize” Jerusalem and rebuild the “alleged” Temple.

When a massive public building built by Jews in 20 CE near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount was recently discovered, the PA used its official TV station to deny its relation to Jewish history, claiming it part of Israel's “false narrative,” which is “full of legends and fantasies.” PA TV further used the opportunity to repeat the PA’s denial of the existence of the temples:

This distortion of history and the imagined threat to Al-Aqsa was repeated by the PA’s highest religious authority the Grand Mufti and one of PA Chairman Abbas’ advisors, who even warned that Israel's conduct will lead to “religious war”:

Official PA TV’s so-called “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas also disseminates the PA’s distortion of history. He recently stated that the Temple and its destruction is “a myth”:

The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to vilify the presence of any Jews on the Mount as an "invasion." It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of violence by Palestinians.