Hebron spokesman Yishai Fleisher exposed the lie of anti-Israel media claiming that “Israeli settlers” had “desecrated” a mosque inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Footage aired by the outlets showed young Jewish men moving furniture inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs complex, which has deep significance for Jews as the resting place of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs.
Fleisher explained the true context for the footage. In reality, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have a sharing agreement over the Tomb of the Patriarchs complex which allows Jewish and Muslim worshipers exclusive access to the complex for ten days a year each, while access is split roughly 60/40 between Muslims and Jews, respectively, for the rest of the year. The Jews seen in the video were simply rolling out Jewish religious articles for use on one of the days allowing Jewish access – the first day of the Jewish month of Elul.