Saudi Cleric Issues Fatwa Endorsing “Electronic Jihad” Against Israel

Saudi cleric Sheik Abdulaziz Al Taraifi issued a Fatwa permitting Muslims to exploit information obtained from hacked Israeli credit cards during a late January appearance on Al-Risala, a Saudi-owned television channel with a history of promoting Islamist views.

Noting that Israel “is not a peaceful country,” Al Taraifi exempted Israel from Islam’s ban on dealing with or profiting from stolen materials. In response to a question posted to his Twitter feed inquiring whether the Fatwa could be applied to all non-Muslims, Al Taraifi later confirmed that the exception to Islam’s moral teachings pertains only to Israel.

Al Taraifi’s Fatwa follows calls by several Muslim clerics to initiate “Electronic Jihad” against Israel, prompted in part by a series of electronic attacks against Israeli Web sites. In the wake of the attacks, for which a known Saudi hacking group claimed responsibility, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri welcomed the tactic as a “new field of resistance against the Occupation,” adding that “we urge Arab youth to develop their methods in electronic warfare in the face of [Israel's] crimes.”

Sheik Al Taraifi’s hostility towards the Jewish State may be more deeply rooted than the political nature of his Fatwa suggests. In an anti-Semitic sermon delivered in Bremen, Germany, in December 2011, Al Taraifi said the Jews strayed because they corrupted the original Torah.