Jenin mosque desecration denounced by UN, Turkey

By Myriam Charabaty
Source: Agencies
15 Dec 2023 12:07
3 Shares

The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, says the desecration of places of worship 'should not be tolerated' after the Israeli occupation performed Talmudic rituals in a Jenin mosque they raided in the West Bank of occupied Palestine.

A mosque desecrated in Jenin, West Bank, occupied Palestine, after a three-day Israeli occupation forces raid on December 14, 2023. (AP)

"The desecration of religious sites should not be tolerated and is against common decency, to say the least," said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General after a video showing Israeli occupation soldiers taking over a mosque in Jenin, occupied Palestine, and performing Talmudic rituals inside.

Dujarric then stressed that religious sites need to "be respected and cannot be perverted in one way or another."

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has shared the video on his Telegram channel, not only praising Israeli occupation soldiers for the desecration of the Jenin mosque but also denying Jenin its identity, calling it "Nin". This name would be the name of Jenin if it ever gets ethnically cleansed and occupied by Israeli occupation settlers.

It is worth noting that in Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention, article 53, it is prohibited to:

to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art, or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples;
to use such objects in support of the military effort;
to make such objects the object of reprisals.

Users on social media were outraged after footage of Israeli soldiers emerged showing them desecrating a mosque in the #Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/rJ4mtNt56X
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 14, 2023

Denunciations for the desecration of religious sites roll

The spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Oncu Keceli, slammed the actions of the IOF as "provocative", noting, "We strongly condemn the provocations of Israeli soldiers who stormed the Jenin Refugee Camp, and disrespected the sanctity of a place of worship by entering the mosque."

"Settler terror" must come to an end, and the perpetrators of violence must be punished, Ankara stressed, reaffirming that "In East Jerusalem [al-Quds] and the West Bank, where tensions are running extremely high due to settler terror and heavy pressure and attacks by Israeli security forces against Palestinians, we expect attacks on Muslim holy places to be ended immediately and those who perpetrate these provocations to be punished in the most severe way."

As for the Palestinian Authority, the actions of the IOF in Jenin were dubbed as a "dangerous escalation" and warned that such actions further fan religious tensions.

The occupation brutalizes Jenin

This violation coincided with a three-day-long Israeli aggression on the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, which has seen a number of executions, drone strikes targeting civilians, and hundreds of arbitrary detainments.

Israeli soldiers were also captured on video lighting Hanukkah menorahs, which is a nine-branched candelabrum, within the homes of Palestinians. To add to their provocative and insulting actions, Israeli occupation soldiers also graffitied the Star of David, the icon situated in the center of the Israeli flag, all over the walls of Jenin.

Twelve Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation soldiers throughout the aggression, while the city's hospitals have been blockaded by occupation forces, limiting the work of medical and emergency workers.