A Turkish organization which is partly funded by the Turkish government has invested in a project designed to transport half a million Israeli Arabs to the al-Aqsa mosque “to protect against Israeli incursions and the threat to destroy it,” Israel Hayom reported Saturday night.
The organization, Mirasimiz, receives part of its budget from Tika, a Turkish government aid agency operated by the Turkish Prime Minister’s office. It set up a mass transportation system to the Old City of Jerusalem, at the cost of $3.25 million (to which it could apply part the $20 Prime Minister Netanyahu paid Turkey as a show of good will exactly one year ago).
The Turkish shuttle project was planned to continue for many months, to which end Mirasimiz purchased 11 buses and rented dozens of additional buses every week. Among the activists who were transported by Mirasimiz were thousands of members of Morabitons and Morabitat, the affiliates of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which were later outlawed – after their instigation of and participation in riots that broke out on the Temple Mount.
The Turkish program included many schools from the Arab sector in Israel. In addition to transportation, Mirasimiz purchased water and sandwiches for the rioting Muslims to the tune of $2.12 million.
Also on the Mirasimiz list of expenses: according to the Shin Bet, in exchange for their stay on the Temple Mount and their constant provocation of Jewish visitors, every member of the Moraviton and Morabitat received a monthly stipend of about $1,200.
The information in the report came from Mahmoud Muhammad Issa Toameh, a senior Hamas member who was arrested upon his return from Saudi Arabia in May of 2014. Toameh revealed the way Hamas had been operating the Islamic movement in Israel, and using it to transfer a great deal of money to projects in Jerusalem, including the busing of Israeli Arabs to the Temple Mount.
Lach Yerushalayim Chairman Maor Zemach, whose members assisted in gathering the information for the Israel Hayom report, said in a statement: “The actions of the Turkish government violate Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and its unity, in addition to cooperating with members of the banned Islamic movement in Israel. The state must fight the front associations operated by the Turkish government.”