Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 15 March 2017| 16 Jumadul Aakhir 1438
Two Israeli Ministers are working to establish a new advocacy foundation to promote the alleged Jewish links to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Ynet News reported on Monday.
The plan by Likud MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Miri Regev was described by the media as “a move arousing resentment and anger.” Muslims around the world revere Al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest place on earth.
The proposed foundation, it is reported, will have an annual budget of NIS 2 million ($544,000) to be paid by Elkin’s Jerusalem Affairs Ministry and Regev’s Culture Ministry. According to Ynet News, the ministers say that this initiative was taken in response to the decision by UNESCO which recognised that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a solely Islamic holy site.
The proposed foundation will produce video shorts in a variety of languages and develop courses reinforcing the alleged Jewish ties to the holy site and raise the issue on social media.
“In recent years,” claimed Elkin and Regev in a joint statement, “Israel has been dealing with a de-legitimisation campaign, which in part uses the Temple Mount [the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa], its heritage and its connection to the Jewish people in a negative manner that is inconsistent with factual truth as reflected in historical and archaeological research.”
Despite decades of archaeological digs under the Noble Sanctuary — intended in part to undermine the foundations, say critics — no concrete evidence of an ancient Jewish presence has been found.
Source – MEMO
