The Arabian Peninsula holds a rich tapestry of history, particularly concerning the Jewish tribes that once thrived there. These communities coexisted with their polytheistic neighbors for centuries, creating a complex social fabric. However, everything changed with the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to significant upheaval and transformation for these tribes.

Today, the region known as Arabia is primarily in Saudi Arabia, which is characterized by vast desert landscapes. However, it was home to an oasis called Yathrib, now called Medina, where Jewish farmers cultivated dates alongside their non-Jewish counterparts. This oasis was not just a geographical feature; it was a vibrant community where Jewish tribes had once held considerable power.

By the 7th century, the Jewish influence in Yathrib had waned. The region was governed by various tribes, with no singular authority dominating the landscape. Loyalty to one's tribe and their allies was the unwritten law, leading to a society where blood feuds and alliances dictated social interactions. The Jewish tribes, including the Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza, were integral to this dynamic, finding their place within a broader tribal network.

The arrival of Muhammad

About 200 miles south of Yathrib, tensions were brewing in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam. The Kaaba, a central religious site filled with idols, was the heart of Meccan religious life and economy. When Muhammad began preaching monotheism and social equality, he threatened the established order, leading to resistance from Mecca's elites.

As Muhammad's influence grew, he faced increasing opposition, culminating in a plot to assassinate him. Narrowly escaping, he and his followers fled to Yathrib, where the local tribes, weary of constant conflict, sought his help to establish peace. This marked the beginning of a new era for both Muhammad and the Jewish tribes of Yathrib.

The constitution of Medina

Upon arriving in Yathrib, Muhammad established the first written social contract, known as the Constitution of Medina or Umma Document. This agreement aimed to unify the various tribes, including the Jewish communities, under a single political entity. For the first time, tribal divisions took a back seat to a collective identity, fostering a sense of community among the inhabitants of Yathrib.

Initially, the Jewish tribes did not view Muhammad as a spiritual leader but as a political figure who could bring stability. While some Jews began to convert to Islam, many remained skeptical, holding onto their traditions and leaders. This skepticism would eventually lead to rising tensions.

The situation escalated when a Muslim man defended a Muslim woman who had been publicly humiliated by a Jewish goldsmith, leading to violence and retaliation. Historians debate the exact events leading to this conflict, with some suggesting that the Banu Qaynuqa were simply too powerful and posed a threat to Muhammad's authority. Regardless, the outcome was the same: the Banu Kuka became the target of Muhammad's military action.

The fate of the Jewish tribes

Faced with the choice of conversion or death, the Banu Qaynuqa ultimately chose exile, abandoning their belongings but preserving their lives. However, the tensions did not end there. The Banu Nadir, having not aided the Banu Qaynuqa, soon found themselves in a precarious position as well. A young member of the Banu Nadir allegedly attempted to assassinate Muhammad, leading to their expulsion from Yathrib.

With the Banu Nadir gone, only the Banu Qurayza remained. They initially supported Muhammad during conflicts with the Meccans but soon found themselves at odds with him as well. The turning point came after the Battle of the Trench, where the Banu Qurayza were accused of breaking their pact with Muhammad by not supporting him adequately.

The Banu Qurayza faced dire consequences. They were besieged by Muhammad's forces, with their leaders forced to consider extreme measures for survival. Ultimately, they chose to submit to Muhammad, hoping for mercy. However, their fate had already been sealed as Muhammad's advisor, Sa'd ibn Muadh, ordered the beheading of the men and the captivity of the women and children.

This brutal episode marked the end of the prominent Jewish tribes in Yathrib. Their disappearance from history left a significant void, and the events surrounding their fate remain a topic of intense debate among historians and scholars.

The history of the Jewish tribes in Arabia is a multifaceted narrative filled with lessons about faith, community, and power dynamics. As we reflect on this story, we are reminded of the importance of unity in the face of adversity and the enduring bonds that connect us all.

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For the first time in history, dozens of female soldiers from Saudi Arabia's security forces stood guard this year in Mecca, overseeing the city's holy cites during the annual haj pilgrimage.

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One soldier, Mona, was inspired to join the Saudi security forces by her late father's military career. Dressed in a uniform, with a hip-length jacket, loose trousers and a black beret over a veil covering her hair, Mona spends her shifts roaming the city's Grand Mosque.

Video: Reuters

"I am following in the footsteps of my late father, standing here at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest place," she said. "To serve the worshippers is a very noble and honorable task."

Another female soldier, Samar, stands guard at Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure that Muslims believe was built by the patriarch Abraham. Family members encouraged Samar to join the military, which she did after completing her studies in psychology.

"This is a huge accomplishment for us, and it is the biggest pride to serve my religion, country and God," she said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been advancing social and economic reforms as part of his plan to modernize the conservative Muslim kingdom and attract foreign investments.

Under the plan, known as Vision 2030, the crown prince lifted a driving ban on women, allowed them to travel without permission from a guardian and granted them more control over family matters.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government placed a series of restrictions on the haj pilgrimage for the second year in a row, barring millions of local and foreign pilgrims from visiting the holy site.

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In the beginning, there was the Prophet Muhammad's night journey in the sky and ascent into the heavens, and some say it was nothing more than a dream. But the dispute that is now rocking the Muslim world is not about whether that famous night journey occurred or was dreamt. The current debate, which is intertwined with political, religious, and nationalist motivations, has to do with the question of where Al-Aqsa ("the farthest") Mosque, from whence – according to Muslim tradition – Muhammad set off on his way into the heavens, is located.

Widespread Muslim belief backed by religious literature says that the angel Gabriel was revealed to Muhammad in Mecca, riding a winged beast named al-Buraq. Muhammad took the angel up on his invitation to ride it into the sky, but made an important stop at Al-Aqsa. Only after that did they rise into the sky together, where Muhammad received the commandment to pray that requires Muslims to worship five times a day and the direction of prayer – toward Mecca.

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Now, some 1,400 years after the Muslim belief that the Quranic Al-Aqsa sits on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem took root, an old debate from the early days of Islam has resurfaced: Where is Al-Aqsa? Is it in Jerusalem, as the vast majority of Muslims believe it to be? Or, as Saudi researcher Osama Yamani claims in the Saudi establishment paper Okaz, near Mecca on the Arabia Peninsula?

According to Yamani, the mosque Muhammad visited is actually located in Al-Ju'ranah in Saudi Arabia's Makkah Province.

Since his article was published, Arab social media has been aflutter. Yamani is accused of spreading "perverse nonsense that contradicts the Quran and Sunni Islam." A few claimed he is "sick" or "insane." Some, like the Turkish television station TRT, claim that his remarks were designed to serve the Zionist agenda and attempts by Jewish Middle East scholars to deny that Al-Aqsa is located in Jerusalem and Muhammad's miraculous night flight. Others say the article was published for political reasons – an attempts to pave the way for Saudi normalization with Israel.

The article infuriated several officials in the Palestinian Authority. Mohammad Habash, the PA's highest-ranking Sharia judge, thinks the article was designed to serve "enemies of the nation." Dr. Ali Abu Al-Awar, a Palestinian who wrote his doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Harvard, calls Osama Yamani a "highwayman."

'The Umayyads invented a story'

Yamani, it should be noted, is not the first to question the identification of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as the Quranic Al-Aqsa. The Egyptian intellectual Dr. Youssef Ziedan did so in 2015, as did Jordanian researcher Dr. Suleiman al-Tarawneh in 2017, and one Israeli researcher, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, who has been expounding the theory for 12 years. They all refer to ancient historians like Al-Waqidi (at the end of the eighth century CE) or Al-Azraqi (ninth century CE), both of whom wrote similar arguments over 1,000 years ago.

Kedar sums up this dissenting version: "Fifty years after the death of Muhammad in 682 CE, Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr, who was the bully of Mecca, revolted against the Umayyad Dynasty that ruled in Damascus. He closed the roads and prevented Damascus residents from making the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Having no other choice, the Umayyads chose Jerusalem as an alternative Haj destination, which is one of the five fundamental commandments of Islam. To entrench their choice of Jerusalem, they invented the story that the Al-Aqsa Mosque mentioned in the Quran wasn't in Ju'ranah, but in Jerusalem. They linked the story to the Quran myth about Muhammad's night flight to Al-Aqsa Mosque by inventing a number of hadiths that are essentially rewritten history."

According to Kedar, this led to the Sunni Muslim belief that Jerusalem is the third-holiest city in Islam.

"I didn't invent these arguments," Kedar says. "They were made 1,000 years ago by the great Ibn Taymiyyah and Al-Waqidi, who cannot be suspected of Judaism or Zionism. They looked for the truth and they knew about the industry of falsified hadiths that operated in the seventh and eighth centuries."

Unlike Kedar, Middle East scholar Professor Yitzhak Reiter, author of From Jerusalem, to Mecca and Back – The Islamic Consolidation of Jerusalem, and a former advisor to three prime ministers – Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Shimon Peres – is by no means "right-wing," but in terms of history, Reiter agrees with Kedar.

Reiter thinks that the debate around the question of where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located erupted now because of the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and the improved ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh.

"This is a transparent attempt to reduce the weight of the Palestinian issue in relations between the Arab world and Israel," Reiter thinks. "In other words, this is part of an attempt to say that the holy places on the Arabian Peninsula – Mecca, Medina, and now many Al-Aqsa – are much more significant, and that Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is less worthy of a place in the center of that normalization," he explains.

However, Reiter – like Kedar – notes that the argument in Israel about the holiness of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa goes back to the dawn of Islam and that "In effect, we have sources like Al-Waqidi from the ninth century and others who argue that the original mosque is located in Ju'ranah in the Makkah Province."

Hadith as an early form of social media

Reiter stresses that Jerusalem became holy to Islam 60 years after Muhammad's death, when the Umayyad dynasty ruled the Land of Israel. They had no access to Islamic holy sites on the Arabian Peninsula after Al-Zybayr seized power there.

"Only then did the Umayyads start developing Jerusalem as a spiritual center. My interpretation is that they were very successful in the battle for hearts and minds. They had people write hadiths and traditions and disseminated them. In today's terms, we'd say that they controlled the media and social media by distributing and inculcating the hadiths, and the belief that Jerusalem is the third-holiest place to Islam and that Jerusalem is the first direction of prayer according to Muslim tradition.

"They also invented a tradition that Al-Aqsa Mosque was built 40 years after the Kaaba in Mecca by Abraham and Ismail. But the more important tradition they managed to instill attributes to Muhammad the decree that pilgrimage is permitted to three places – the holy mosque in Mecca, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. That is the famous hadith about the three mosques, and it was invented in the Umayyad period to serve them," Reiter says.

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Q: Are there any remains of an ancient mosque in Ju'ranah?

Reiter: "None that we know of."

Q: Will this renewed argument challenge the importance of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem?

"In my opinion, no. You can't challenge a 1,300-year-old belief. This is a political trend, and even if it has a historical basis, it's designed to weaken the Palestinian position."

One of the people who returned fire against the renewed reports questioning the identity of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem is Middle East scholar Eran Tzidkiyahu of the Forum for Regional Thinking. Tzidkiyahu even wrote a long Facebook post on the subject in which he claimed "a degree of hypocrisy, when one narrative, the Muslim one, is examined using critical scientific criteria, while the narrative of the other side, the Jewish one, is accepted as truth that is not only historically correct, but also gives modern-day political rights. The cancellation of the Muslim historical-religious narrative arose in order to justify the cancellation of political rights."

Tzidkiyahu observes that "academic research takes the existence of God out of the equation and looks at historical events. According to research, no god ever promised or sanctified the city of Jerusalem, or Al-Quds, to any nation or religion. The research assumed that all the processes of sanctification and politicization were creating as the result of human, religious, political, and social processes."

"Therefore, even if Jerusalem later became holy, whether it was because of kings who identified with the House of David in the eighth century BCE, or because of a Muslim dynasty that aspired to lead the Islamic world in the seventh century CE, it doesn't cancel 1,400 or 2,700 years of holiness and religious and political centrality, not for Jews and not for Muslims," he says.

Q: Who protects these places?

Tzidkiyahu stresses that the greatest researchers of Islam delved into the question of Jerusalem's holiness to Islam, poring over books, ancient manuscripts, ancient sources in classic Arabic, Latin, Greek, and Persian, and integrating sources and comparing texts.

"They published endless articles and books on the subject, but not one of the serious researchers thought to translate these historical commentaries into political statements. They focused on research."

This week, Israel Hayom asked Kedar about the practical meaning of the claims he has been making for over a decade now being made by Muslim researchers. Does he really expect that a historical truth of varying accuracy will prompt Muslims to drop a 1,300-year-old belief and adopt the view that Al-Aqsa is near Mecca, not in Jerusalem? Might this not be a "home goal," with challenges about historical truths also turning toward Bible stories?

Kedar: "Your question is influenced by the distance between post-modernism and modernism. Post-modernism claims that there is no absolute truth. Anyone who accepts that view accepts Jerusalem's holiness to Islam as a fact. I, as a realist, am looking for the absolute truth. A narrative is a collection of stories that I believe and expect everyone else to respect. That is how religious-national narratives are constructed, but as a researcher, I want to get to the truth, and understand how stories are created, how a narrative is created. Understand whether they have a historical basis, and now that I understand that, I say again, the so-called truth about the sources of Jerusalem's holiness to Islam is clear to many people now, not just me."

Q: The Muslim faithful connect to Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, even if the real Al-Aqsa isn't in Jerusalem, so what is the point of your arguments?

Kedar: "I research Islam, and people's motivation today to make up stories is no different from what motivated them 1,400 years ago. The story is a battle for power and control. Why do you think the Saudi king calls himself 'guardian of the holy sites' (Mecca and Medina)? The Saudi royal family comes from the Riyadh area. They made themselves into the guardians of the holy places to give their rule legitimacy. Now the Palestinians, particularly the Islamic Movement, have made Al-Aqsa their top priority in order to position Jerusalem as a central issue for the Muslim world. They more they succeed, the more the Saudis will claim that Al-Aqsa is located there."

Could the debate among Muslims about the location of Al-Aqsa spill over into violence and bloodshed? Reiter, Kedar, and Tzidkiyahu don't think so, but suggest that we wait and see whether the Saudi newspaper article signals a stance the Saudi royal family will adopt, or whether it was a shot in the dark. If that theory becomes more prevalent, Tzidkiyahu thinks, "there will be more potential for violence and bloodshed."  

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Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, is not located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Saudi lawyer and journalist Osama Yamani is claiming.

In an article in the Saudi news outlet Okaz, Yamani claims that the mosque is actually located in Al Ju'ranah, near Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

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Yamani writes that the confusion between the two sites stems from the fact that many history books state that Al-Aqsa is located in Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem is not Al-Aqsa, which is not cited in the missions that Allah gave Muhammad and the caliphs. Similarly, Jerusalem is a city, and Al-Aqsa is a mosque," he states.

Yamani adds that originally, Muslims did not face in the direction of Al-Aqsa while praying.

Yamani backs up his argument with historic facts, such as the fifth caliph from the Umayyad dynasty, Abd al-Malik, building the Dome of the Rock in the year 691 CE. Al-Malak built the dome nine years after Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr rebelled and prevented local residents from fulfilling the obligation to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

"At that stage, he changed the direction of prayer toward Jerusalem," Yamani says, referring to al-Malik.

Yamani explains that "There are stories influenced by political considerations that served purposes of that time, and sometimes claims are made that they have nothing to do with faith or following religious dictates."

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With the pandemic making large gatherings impossible, only a few thousand pilgrims – Saudis and foreign residents – are gathering this year on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat for the most important ritual. They share a common plea.

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"Everyone will be praying for this pandemic to end, and for all the people of the world to see better months to come after all the suffering caused by coronavirus," said Ammar Khaled, a 29-year-old Indian pilgrim who is an IT professional in Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina and its peaceful organization of the hajj, which has been marred in the past by deadly stampedes, fires, and riots.

Over the years, the kingdom has spent billions of dollars on making one of the world's biggest religious gatherings more secure.

This year it faces the challenge of keeping the hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it and a major source of income for the government, safe from COVID-19.

For the first time in modern history, it has dramatically reduced the number of pilgrims to ensure social distancing measures are adhered to.

the hajj minister said in June the number of pilgrims would be limited to around 1,000, but no official number has been given for those performing the rituals this week. Some local media cited a figure of some 10,000.

Saudi healthcare and security professionals, on the front lines of the battle against the disease, make up about 30% of the total, with the remainder coming from 160 nationalities residing in the Kingdom.

Mask-wearing pilgrims circled the Kaaba – a stone structure that is the most sacred in Islam and the direction which Muslims face to pray – in small groups of 50 people, each keeping a safe distance apart and accompanied by a health professional monitoring their movements.

Unlike past years when they lunged towards the Kaaba, pilgrims are not allowed to touch the plain stone cube building covered in black cloth and wrapped in Arabic writing in golden silk.

Workers sanitized the structure, rubbing Oud perfume, the popular Arab sweet and woody scent, on its walls and carrying incense as they moved around the premises of the Grand Mosque.

Crowds of millions of pilgrims from around the world could be a hotbed for virus transmission, and in the past some worshippers have returned to their countries with respiratory and other diseases.

The government is being cautious this time around.

Pilgrims took several medical tests and were asked to quarantine for a week before starting their journey, then isolate for another week in their hotel rooms.

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They were given an electronic bracelet to monitor their movements and a suitcase containing all basic necessities.

On site, 3,500 workers spread across the Grand Mosque in Mecca to sanitize it using 54,000 liters (11,888 gallons) of disinfectant and 1,050 liters of air fresheners daily.

The floors of the mosque were scrubbed 10 times a day, up from three times in the past.

Six hospitals were dedicated to serving pilgrims and 51 clinics and 200 ambulances were spread across different sites, with the support of 62 field teams and 8,000 healthcare professionals.

"The kingdom is relying on years of experience in managing the pilgrimage and has worked hard in collaboration with the WHO to ensure that the pilgrimage goes very smooth," said Hanan Balkhy, Assistant Director-General of Antimicrobial Resistance at the World Health Organization.

With joy and tears, pilgrims spent the day on Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammad gave his last sermon, raising hands in prayer to atone for their sins, their lips moving behind face masks.

At sunset, the pilgrims will move to the plain of Muzdalifa, where in previous years they gathered pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolizing the devil at Jamarat.

This year each pilgrim received sanitized pebbles in advance of the event on Friday, the first day of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice.

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According to Agence France-Presse, delegations from these three parties "will travel jointly to Auschwitz in the first quarter of 2020 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps."

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The visit was confirmed during the annual International Peace Conference, currently being held in the Netherlands, which also brought together high-level religious leaders from around the world.

"This is the first time that dignitaries of the MWL will go there," said Ghaleb Bencheikh, President of the Foundation of Islam of France.

Chief Rabbinate of France; @HaimKorsia, the Council of Christian Churches of France, and the Muslim World League; @MWLOrg are going to embark on a trip to #Auschwitz, fighting against #extremism and #terrorism.
Our @sarahcoates_i24 has the story. pic.twitter.com/oIP4WC6PD7

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 23, 2019

A "Memorandum of Understanding and Friendship between the Three Monotheistic Religions" was also signed between the three parties during the conference, which commits to fighting against "extremism and terrorism."

"The parties pledge to promote freedom of conscience and religious freedom," the text stated.

The journey looks to provide "young Jews, Christians and Muslims tools for reflection and places of training to address the problems of the contemporary world and address the ethical challenges that face especially young people," the statement adds.

The Muslim World League is an NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes Islamic teachings across the world.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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Senior officials said there had been no major incidents and the logistical, security and health plans had been successful, even with some heavy rainfall.

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Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, and its organization of the pilgrimage. It hopes to continue expanding attendance to help build its tourism industry.

Pilgrims participated in a symbolic stoning of the devil, part of the hajj rituals, in Jamarat before returning to Mecca, where the Grand Mosque filled with worshippers preparing to depart.

Saudi pilgrim Jasem Ali Haqawi said he was grateful to the authorities for a well-run week of rituals.

"Nobody comes to the hajj without things inside him that he wants to ask from God," he said while preparing to conduct final prayers in Mecca. "The sick, the indebted … such things only God can grant and so you ask God for whatever you want."

Nearly 2.5 million pilgrims, most of them from abroad, came for the five-day ritual this year. Attendance is a religious duty, once in a lifetime, for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.

More than 120,000 members of the security forces and more than 30,000 health workers were on hand this week to maintain safety and provide first aid.

A crush in 2015 killed nearly 800 pilgrims, according to Riyadh, when two large groups of pilgrims arrived at a crossroads east of Mecca. Counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed that 2,000-plus people may have died, including more than 400 Iranians.

Saudi authorities said at the time that the crush may have been caused by pilgrims failing to follow crowd control rules. King Salman ordered an investigation but the results were never announced.

Iran boycotted the hajj the following year, partly in response to the crush and a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

Iranians attended this year as Riyadh and Tehran continue to struggle for regional supremacy. Tensions are particularly high after the seizure of commercial vessels and attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.

The narrow waterway separating the two countries has become the focus of a standoff between Tehran and Washington, which has beefed up its military presence in the Gulf since May.

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"The Saudi regime is trying, through these allegations, to rally support for its brutal aggression against our great Yemeni people," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Facebook.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading a Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim states that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government ousted from power in Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, citing eyewitnesses, reported that Saudi air defense forces intercepted two ballistic missiles above the western cities of Taif and Jeddah. The first one had been directed towards Mecca, it said, without giving evidence.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 2 million Muslims from around the world make the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Many also visit the city during the holy month of Ramadan, which is currently underway.

Riyadh has accused Iran of ordering last week's drone strikes on two oil pumping stations in the kingdom, for which the Houthis claimed responsibility. Tehran denied doing so.

Washington and Tehran have been sparring over sanctions and the U.S. military presence in the region, raising concerns about a potential conflict between the United States and Iran.

On Sunday, the Houthi-run Saba News Agency said the group would start military operations against 300 vital military targets, including headquarters and facilities, in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and coalition targets inside Yemen.

Yemen's conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being Iranian puppets and say they are waging a revolution against corruption.

The strikes on Aramco pumping stations came two days after attacks on vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the coast of the UAE, which no one has claimed responsibility for.

The UAE has not blamed anyone pending an investigation. Two U.S. government sources said last week that U.S. officials believed Iran encouraged the Houthis or Iraq-based Shiite Muslim militias to carry out the attacks.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi cities and oil installations with missiles and drones, mostly in border areas. Twice, in 2016 and 2017, the coalition said the group had launched a missile towards Mecca, but the movement said it was targeting nearby airports.

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