Israeli academics condemn construction of Museum of Tolerance on Muslim cemetery

Israeli academics have condemned the construction of the so-called “Museum of Tolerance” on the site of a historic Muslim cemetery in Occupied Jerusalem. They have also warned that should the museum on top of the Ma’aman Allah Cemetery go ahead, Israel risks major and bitter confrontation with the Muslim world.

The comments were made at a seminar organised by the Jerusalem Institute for Israeli Studies on Wednesday, November 30, to mark the publication of a book by Yitzhak Reiter about the Ma’aman Allah Cemetery and the construction of the museum in question. Speakers said that building the museum in such a location will have dangerous repercussions at local and international levels. They suggested that the decision to build should be reversed, especially in the light of the increasing international objections to the project.

Yitzhak Reiter criticized the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to reject the petition filed by the Aqsa Institute against the construction of the museum. Reiter said that the court’s decision was political and its view of the cemetery and museum was wrong. He pointed out that Sheikh Raed Salah used the museum project as an example of Israeli attacks on religious endowments and sacred sites in Israel and Jerusalem.