10 July 2019
The Jerusalem municipality removed the Dome of the Rock from a backdrop of Jerusalem displayed at a an event attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon in June
The Qibli Musallah, the gates of al-Aqsa and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer are prominently placed in the image, however the dome is conspicuously absent. Despite the dome being one of the most recognizable elements of the Jerusalem skyline, the designers depicted only the building’s base.
The image was the central element of the decoration for a tribute to Israeli singer Yehoram Gaon, which took place in Safra Square. The drawing depicted many sites in Jerusalem’s Old City and al-Aqsa including its gates and the steeple of the Church of the Redeemer. .
There have been several incidents over the past few years where images of Jerusalem were edited to exclude the Dome of the Rock. In 2015, the Ynet news site reported that children in an Israeli kindergarten received a Passover Haggadah that included an image of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock cropped out.
Last year the U.S. Ambassador David Friedman was photographed holding up a large image of the Temple Mount that had been edited to replace the Dome of the Rock with a simulation of the Third Temple. The incident sparked outrage, leading the American embassy to issue an apology, saying the ambassador was not aware of the change made to the picture.
Members of the Temple Movement seek to demolish the Dome of the Rock at Masjid al-Aqsa and replace it with a Temple.
ADAPTED from: Ha’aretz
