Sounds from the mosque alternate between calls to prayer and threatening messages for the Jews, including calls for revenge and harm to the Jewish population.
200 families, totalling about 1,000 people, live in the town of Karmei Tzur, which is about 19 miles south of Jerusalem. Surrounded by the Arab villages of Halhul and Beit Ummar, security is a grave concern. This is especially true at this time when Israel is under rocket attack from the north and the south.
While Color Red Sirens have sounded in every town in Israel, in Karmei Tzur, when a siren sounds, it may be from the mosque across the valley. Since the outbreak of the war, the mosque adjacent to Karmei Tzur has indeed been sounding sirens over loudspeakers in order to spread alarm and fear among the Jewish residents. Normally, the loudspeakers are used to sound the muezzin call to prayer five times a day. The false alerts have been blaring full-volume from the Arab minarets at all times of the day and night, sending residents to the safe rooms.
But now, the sounds from the mosque alternate between calls to prayer and threatening messages, which include calls for revenge and harm to the Jewish population.
Council mayor and Karmei Tzur resident, Shlomo Ne’eman said, “The Arabs of Judea and Samaria have chosen to side with the most despicable murderers that walk the earth today.”
“We see the Arabs of Judea and Samaria have chosen a side,” Ne’eman said. “They have chosen to side with Hamas, to side with the most despicable murderers that walk the earth. Now their muezzins choose to frighten us – does it look like we’ll be frightened? We are stronger than ever and they have no immunity. Let them get used to the new Middle East. Jews are no longer suckers. If they want to threaten us from their mosques, they had better first equip them with shelters.”
Indeed, mosques are frequently weaponized. The IDF carried out an airstrike on Sunday targeting a tunnel under the al-Ansari Mosque in Jenin that was sheltering Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. The IDF stated that the terrorist cell was about to carry out an attack and large amounts of weapons were stored under the mosque. The Palestinian Authority health ministry said two people were killed and several others were injured in the Israeli strike.
An IDF aircraft attacked a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp. Residents there reported at least one dead person whose body was removed from the building. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that there were several wounded
The al Ansari Mosque was raided over the summer as well for similar reasons. The IDF found two interconnected tunnel openings. Explosives, weapons, and other military equipment were found inside the holes and scattered across the mosque.
