The Absent Image: How the Occupation Conceals the Desecration of Al-Aqsa?

The article discusses the Israeli media blackout policy regarding settler violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish holiday season, by removing mosque guards, restricting worshippers, and targeting journalists, making documentation of violations dependent on the settlers' own videos.

The article discusses the Israeli media blackout policy regarding settler violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which escalate during the long Jewish holiday season. It explains three main mechanisms of this blackout: first, removing Al-Aqsa guards from the scene of aggression by reducing their permitted numbers during incursions from ten guards to only two, preventing them from pursuing the intruders, and imposing a 200-meter distance between them and the settlers. Second, besieging worshippers and those performing i'tikaf by imposing age restrictions, reducing their numbers, issuing removal orders, and preventing them from filming inside the mosque. Third, targeting Jerusalem journalists through arrests and a ban on Jerusalem media platforms in February 2026. The article notes that documenting violations has become heavily dependent on videos filmed by the settlers themselves and posted on social media, in addition to videos filmed by Israeli politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir. The article cites specific incidents such as an attempt to bring in blood-dipped bread during the holiday of Shavuot (June 2025), and blowing the shofar inside Al-Aqsa (September 2025), and concludes that the absence of the image reached its peak during the Rosh Hashanah incursions.