As you can imagine, Muslims were very unhappy at a world leader saying that Jerusalem has anything to do with Judaism.Throughout the visit, Putin demonstrated curiosity, asked many questions on the history of the place, and spoke about the Jewish connection to the holy site: "You can see how the Jewish past is engraved in the Jerusalem stone," he said.
Hamas called it a cheap stunt, and the Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation said:
We say to Putin and his ilk, that the Wailing Wall is purely Islamic, and is part and parcel of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and non-Muslims have no right to the wall or in the Al Aqsa Mosque. All the historical facts and international documents confirm that the Al-Buraq Wall is Islamic, including the British Shaw Commission. Remember, the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa mosque is 45 years old, and they demolished the buildings and around the Square unjustly for the prayer of the Jews, then carried out the excavations, including the excavation along the bottom of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and during the excavations many of the Islamic and Arabic findings were suppressed, not to mention that these excavations led to the cracks and collapses in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa Mosque and some of its buildings, and the occupation is engaging in Judaization of the place, and we affirm that all rocks the Al Aqsa Mosque and every stone of Jerusalem proves the Arab identity of Jerusalem.Other Arab media pointed out that Putin wore a kipah.
