Thursday, January 28, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
From the official Palestinian Authority Wafa news agency:
Acting Secretary of Endowments and Religious Affairs Husam Abu al-Rub condemned that the Israeli occupation forces demolished the Umm Qisa mosque at dawn [Wednesday] in the Badawi al-Zuwaidin and Basitah community of al-Ka'abneh Village Council and Umm al-Daraj in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron .Abu al-Rub stated that the demolition of mosques clearly indicates the barbarism that the racist Israeli incitement machine has exhibited towards Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine, adding that this crime is a blatant attack on Muslims and their feelings .Abu al-Rub stressed that there are no longer safe places of worship in light of the attacks and crimes that the Israeli occupation and the herds of settlers perform, saying that this racist assault is added to the list of Israeli crimes against holy sites .Abu al-Rub called on international Islamic institutions such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Islamic Conference, and the Arab and Islamic countries to intervene and work to stop and end these attacks.
This is being reported widely in Arabic media.
Only one problem: There was never a mosque.
Israel demolished an illegal structure in Area C that was under construction, which the Palestinians claim was going to be a mosque. A notice warning of the demolition was given ten days ago.
There is no photo of this "mosque." The photos of the area after the demolition show an amount of rubble that is not close to what a building would have.
Even if you consider the area occupied, Israel has the obligation under international law to uphold zoning laws and not allow anyone (including Jews) to throw up a building wherever they want.
Palestinians know very well the propaganda value of saying that Israel is demolishing schools and mosques, so they build or claim to build these structures in strategic locations to claim land in Area C.
So this minister gets headlines falsely claiming Israel is demolishing mosques, and he is even trying to instigate a religious war by appealing to the larger Muslim world to "intervene."
