Right-wing settler organizations are being accused of inciting violence against Palestinian people and their cultural and religious heritage. Recently, these groups have targeted the old Al-Rahman Mosque in the village of Beit Safafa, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.
According to Hebrew media, there has been a surge of anger and racism among Israeli settlers due to the golden dome that was built on the Al-Rahman Mosque in 2021. They claim that the dome’s design and color are too similar to the Dome of the Rock chapel in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that the dome poses a threat due to its location.
The Al-Rahman Mosque has been in existence for over 100 years and covers an area of 300 square meters. Activists from the village covered the dome with a gray scarf in an attempt to prevent its demolition. They did this because the Israeli authorities had received several complaints and had filed them in court.
Jerusalemite lawyers filed an objection before the Israeli Local Affairs Court, stating that the motive for the demolition was to remove an Islamic religious symbol from the sky of Beit Safafa and Jerusalem, due to the political parties’ intolerance of the presence of Islamic houses of worship in these areas. The lawyers added that the occupation municipality in Jerusalem was aware of the construction of the dome in 2018 but did not object to it. It only became an issue in 2022 after settlers complained.