August 21, 1969


Australian extremist Michael Rohn stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque through Bab Al-Ghawanmeh and set fire to the Al-Qibli prayer hall.

The fire devoured two-thirds of the Qibli prayer hall and caused the burning of the prayer niche and its roof.
The pulpit of Saladin Ayyubi, which he donated to the mosque on the day it was liberated from the Crusaders, was burned.
The fire reached the Omar Mosque, the Maqam al-Arbaeen, and the Mihrab of Zakariya.

Jerusalemites put out the fire with their clothes and water they collected from their homes after the occupation cut off water to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented the arrival of fire engines.

The innocent perpetrator!


The occupation authorities claimed that the cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit, but the people of Jerusalem proved the crime of the Australian extremist Michael Rohn, so the occupation arrested him. When he was brought before the court, it was decided to release him on the grounds that he was mentally ill.

Al-Aqsa fires have not been extinguished


Daily incursions, the holding of full Talmudic prayers in it, and attempts to divide it spatially and distance its worshippers from it are all fires targeting Al-Aqsa, burning its identity and violating its sanctity.