Israeli archeologist: IOA secretly removed mosque at Magharba gate 3 years ago

Israeli archeologist Meir Ben Doff has revealed that the Israeli occupation authority discovered a mosque at the Magharba gate three years ago and removed it without announcing the discovery.


He told Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth published on Sunday that Muslims would be angered on hearing of the news especially when they had affirmed more than once that a mosque did exist in that area.


The revelation comes at a time when the IOA is digging at the same gate (at the western wall of the Aqsa Mosque) in a manner threatening the very foundations of the holy Aqsa Mosque.


Ben Doff had earlier disclosed that the ongoing IOA diggings at the Aqsa Mosque were meant to construct a synagogue beside the Aqsa Mosque, and not as the IOA alleged to renovate an old bridge.


Before a session of the interior committee in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) held to discuss the diggings, Doff slammed the demolition works at the Aqsa Mosque which, he asserted, drew wide protest demonstrations across the Muslim world. He added that renovation of the bridge could have been done quietly and at low cost.


But he affirmed that the IOA scheme was bigger than mere renovation works, and revealed that the IOA wants to build a synagogue inside the western wall of the Aqsa Mosque.


He, furthermore, explained that the current IOA excavations were indeed the source of danger to the Aqsa Mosque that could lead to its collapse, underlining that he has documents to back up his conclusions.