Kadima office in a mosque?
Photo: Al-Aqsa Institute
Group: Kadima set up office in mosque
Arab group slams Kadima, alleges party set up election office inside ancient mosque; Kadima denies charge
Kadima's pre-elections headquarters in the northern town of Safed includes parts of a mosque and constitute an act of desecration, an Arab group charged Tuesday.
Photos show part of the al-Ahmar mosque containing office equipment, a Kadima sign, and pictures of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he al-Aqsa Institute for the Restoration of Holly Places says.
Office in question (Photo: Al-Aqsa Institute)
Notably, the mosque has been inactive for dozens of years.
"It's a severe escalation part of the desecration of holly places on the part of theIsraeli establishment ", group said and demanded the space be vacated and returned to its original condition as a mosque, so it can be restored and preserved.
The mosque was built in 1275 and has been inactive since the 1948.
Arab Knesset Member Mohammad Barakeh called on Olmert to "clean up the mosque."
"The fact that it (Kadima) allows itself to desecrate a mosque so blatantly and turn it into an elections office is quite lowly," Barakeh said. "Olmert and his party must leave the place and return it to its previous owner".
The mosque is currently run by "Sefad Fund" and is used as a residence and also to house various businesses.
Among other things, it was used as the Likud's elections branch in the previous elections, a fact that likely led the Likud to attack Kadima from a different angle.
After Kadima voted not to disqualify Arab party United Arab List-Ta'al from the upcoming elections, it's only natural that Kadima locat its elections office in a mosque in Sefad", Likud Spokesman Ronen Moshe said.
Kadima responded: "the attempt to attack Kadima, at any price, is again undertaken while ignoring the truth. The party rented the one and half rooms lawfully from the 'Sefad Fund for Development' in a three story building, which is adjacent to the mosque, in contrast to the allegations".
