The Israeli occupation authorities inaugurated the $50 million Tower of David Museum at the Old City's Jaffa Gate after 10 years of excavations and three years of restoration at a ceremony with Israel's Jerusalem Affairs Minister Amichai Eliyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, and a crowd of settlers and extremists.

The museum presents the history of Jerusalem according to the Israeli biblical narrative, using 3D models, old maps and other antiquities, while glossing over the Islamic history of the site. At least two mosques are known to exist inside the complex in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry and Jerusalem municipality, the work lasted three years and more than a decade and about $50 million was spent that was invested in the comprehensive renovation and preservation plans for the museum, in addition to the renovation of the minaret. 

The works included preserving the old castle, renovation of archaeological park, the establishment of a new entrance pavilion, shop and café, infrastructure renovation, as well as increased accessibility to the citadel itself. 

The occupation linked the castle to a new entrance from outside the walls of Old Jerusalem at the Jaffa Gate - a new path for visitors to the castle and the mosque, which starts from the entrance wing at Jaffa Gate - Jaffa Gate, passes through the galleries and the observation point in the tower and ends at the exit of the Old City.

Dr. Yousef Al-Natsheh, the Director of the Center for Jerusalem Studies at Al-Quds University and the Director of Tourism and Antiquities at Al-Aqsa Mosque, previously told Al-Quds that the occupation authorities have turned the Tower of David complex into a museum after years of excavations and restoration, even though they know that it is one of the largest mosques in Jerusalem after the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It was one of the only mosques in which Friday prayers were held, despite its proximity to Al-Aqsa Mosque, due to the presence of hundreds of soldiers from the Ottoman Janissaries to protect it.

Al-Natsheh added: “Most of the current construction of the Jerusalem Citadel dates back to the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods, and the construction overlaps to the west at the weakest point in Old Jerusalem in terms of fortifications compared to its borders, because the western side of the city is located in a high area and is not surrounded by mountains, and the castle is located on one of the four hills on which the city of Jerusalem is built. Old".

He indicated that the Jerusalem Citadel included antiquities from the second century BC. up to the Ottoman era. Each group added their own architectural features to the citadel, but it remained used throughout the different eras as a headquarters for command and soldiers, as well as a prison.

Al-Natsheh confirmed that all the excavations proved the current Islamic nature of the area, as the excavations began under the citadel in the Ottoman period, which was continued under the British Mandate. In 1967, Israel's authorities also continued these excavations, intensifying them in the 1980s. Three years ago, they discovered ancient Islamic monuments dating back to the Umayyad and Ottoman periods.