Qaradawi Beats Drums Of War Against Israel in Friday Sermon

During his Friday sermon in the Qatari capital of Doha on April 27, radical Muslim Brotherhood cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi denied Israel’s right to exist and called on Arabs and Muslims to fight the Israelis.

“Israel thinks it’s settled on the land. And we say, by God, you Israelis shall never settle on our land. You will remain strangers, you will remain immigrants,” Qaradawi said. “They must…they must return to their countries, we believe in that, they cannot settle here….The Israelis will definitely disappear and get out of this country, and we are waiting for this day, we must prepare ourselves, and prepare our youth. We shall not surrender.”

After saying that the Palestinians “cannot fight alone” because “the Israelis have weapons enough to fight the entire Arabs,” he asked, “Why the Arabs are not fighting?...We call upon all to unite, to tell the Palestinians we are with you, the least to do is to say to the Palestinians we are behind you”

Qaradawi also expressed regret that while Muslims fail to support their Palestinian brothers, Jews from around the world strongly support Israel with money and weapons, and in politics and the media. “The Jews in the entire world, all of them, with the exception of a small group, support Israel.”

Qaradawi ended his sermon, which was broadcast live on Qatar’s official television station, by praying that God destroys the Israelis and enables the Palestinians to achieve victory “over the enemies of God and [the Palestinian’s] enemies.”

Muslim Brotherhood Electoral Rally Marked By Call To Restore Caliphate in Jerusalem

During a large electoral rally in support of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi on May 1, Dr. Safawat Hijazi, a prominent Islamist figure in Egypt, predicted that under Musri’s leadership a new Islamic Caliphate will emerge with Jerusalem as its capital.

“We realized our dream of the Caliphate is being fulfilled by Dr. Mursi, his group and his party,” Hijazi told the crowd at the football stadium in El-Mahalla El-Kubra. “With his efforts, the united Arabs states will come true and its capital will be holy Jerusalem.”

These remarks were followed by a chant: “I am Egyptian with pride… tomorrow Mursi will liberate Gaza.” Hijazi responded by inciting the crowd with his own chant: “Come on, lovers of martyrdom…all of you are Hamas…Come on lovers of martyrs, all of you are Hamas.”

Hijazi, a member in the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), also told the crowd, “We will not accept from Dr. Mursi and the group anything less than the application of God’s Sharia’ in the land of Egypt.” He concluded by issuing a fatwa on election participation. “The one who does not go to vote in the elections is a sinner.”

Other prominent members of the Brotherhood attended the rally and gave speeches focusing on Mursi’s Islamic agenda.

As Algeria Approaches Elections, Citizens are Warned of Zionist Interference

“Algerians must vote because it is about Algeria’s stability, and it is about preserving our country from any foreign interference,” a prominent Algerian cleric said in an interview with Reuters on April 25, adding that Zionists are among the conspirers that seek to meddle in domestic Arab affairs.

In case that wasn’t clear enough, Sheikh Chemseddine Bouroubi added in his widely circulated fatwa, or religious decree, that those who do not vote in May 10 elections will suffer divine retribution.

The North African nation-state has largely baffled Middle East experts for successfully riding out the waves of popular revolt that have become the symbol of the Arab Spring. Although the thirteen year authoritarian rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika did encounter a flash of popular protest as revolution swept across neighboring Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, Bouteflika responded by officially lifting the nation’s 19-year-old state of emergency and promises for gradual reforms.

Decrees demonizing Israel and Zionism, such as the one made by Sheikh Bouroubi, have historically been used by authoritarian Arab states as the preferred method of deflecting popular discontent away from themselves and onto the Jewish state.

In his fatwa, Bourbouri tried to justify his comments that Zionists intend to foment revolution in Algeria by pointing out that a Jewish French-Algerian played a role in persuading President Sarkozy to help overthrow Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. “Listen to what the Zionist Bernard-Henri Levy is saying: ‘Algeria is about to experience an Arab Spring very soon’… What he means by ‘Arab Spring’ is a repetition of the Libyan scenario: blood, killings, destruction.”

Algeria emerged from a bloody and prolonged civil war between the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and the central government only when President Bouteflika assumed power.

Egyptian Television Re-Airs Anti-Semitic Miniseries “Horseman Without A Horse”

The anti-Semitic miniseries Horseman Without A Horse, is back on Egyptian television. The 41-part series, which first appeared on Egyptian state television and other networks across the Middle East during Ramadan in 2002, is scheduled to be broadcast on Al-Tahrir TV.

Al-Tahrir TV, established after the 2011 revolution, claims to be an independent voice of the “new Egypt” that supports “Tahrir Square’s revolutionary youth and their principles.”

The series features the virulently anti-Semitic forgery “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” which has been used through the last century as an excuse to scapegoat and persecute Jews, as a major plot device.

The program, replete with gross anti-Semitic accusations and depictions, tells the story of scheming Jews, who in a bid to dominate Israel, the Middle East and the world, make efforts to hide the existence of the “book” [The Protocols], which would reveal their conspiracy.

Following the original broadcast of the miniseries, governments around the world spoke out to condemn it. While the Egyptian government did not officially comment on the program, its broadcast did provoke a discussion in the Egyptian media on the line between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel. Most notably, Osama El-Baz, a top political advisor to then-President Hosni Mubarak, condemned Egyptian anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial (while still vehemently criticizing Israel) in a series of articles in Egypt’s leading newspaper Al-Ahram.

Will government, political, religious and social leaders in post-revolutionary Egypt stand up and condemn the age-old demonization of Jews now appearing on Al-Tahrir TV?

Egyptian Presidential Candidate Promotes Anti-Semitism

Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who wants to abolish Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, has a history of promoting anti-Semitic narratives in his statements against Israel.

In an interview with Al Jazeera in February 2012, Ismail said, “There’s no such thing as the state of Israel. Palestine is from the river to the sea, as it’s said… The Jews are not here on Earth to be rulers.”

In an electoral rally a month before, Ismail attacked the Zionists’ efforts to organize trips to Israel from around the world. The crowds chanted in response: “Oh Jews of Khaibar, the army of Muhammad is here… Oh Jews of Khaibar, Hazem Abu Ismail is here,” evoking the Qur’an’s account of a battle between the prophet Muhammad and the Jews of the town of Khaibar that resulted in the subjugation of the Jews of Arabia.

During a 2011 appearance on the talk show on the Islamic Television channel Mureed Al Janna, Ismail described stories from Torah as sarcastic and scandalous and said that even Jews doubt their religion.

Ismail, who is backed by the Salafists, describes the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel as “scandalous and shameful” in his “Message to the Honorable Egyptian People who Bow to none but Allah,” which outlines his presidential program.

The detailed program, which is available on his campaign’s official website, also includes the following foreign policy note:

“We believe that Israel is illegitimate. Israel has no right in Palestine, but we will not collide with them now; we must stand up on our feet first before we think about standing on the confrontation line. Taking into account the interests of our country is above all other considerations, but this would not be at the expense of our pride and our dignity and our Arabic and Islamic relations.”

The same program calls for building a stronger relationship with Iran in order to both pressure the U.S. and gain economic aid from it at the same time.

During a lecture in February 2012, Ismael called Osama Bin Laden a martyr, saying that “I ask God to accept him among the martyr saints and the righteous ones…. We ask God to enable Muslims to revenge for his death.”

American “Global March to Jerusalem” Activist Interviewed by Hezbollah

During an interview last week with Hezbollah’s satellite television station Al-Manar, Sarah Ann Marusek, an American organizer of the upcoming “Global March to Jerusalem” (GMJ), discussed the goals of the campaign.    

Marusek told Al-Manar that her participation in the GMJ is intended to “not only to provoke the American government, but to provoke those Americans who claim to support the Palestinians while at the same time support a solution that eliminates the right of refugees to return.”

Marusek added, “Decision makers in the U.S. are living in fear because of the Zionist lobby; if they made a decision that supports the Palestinians, they will be condemned and lose their jobs and the support they have.”

The interview with Al-Manar followed a press conference at the Journalists Union in Beirut, Lebanon, which was attended by various Palestinian militant factions in Lebanon. Hassan Zaidan, head of the Committee to Support the Resistance in Palestine, a group closely associated with Hezbollah, spoke before Marusek, stating that “to count on Western and American intentions in order to free Jerusalem and achieve the return of refugees is pathetic.”  

Marusek is currently a PhD candidate Syracuse University and a political analyst for Iran’s English-language propaganda television station Press TV. She maintains a website that offers English translation of Hassan Nasrallah speeches.

Marusek also works with the Right to Return Committee in Lebanon, which co-organized a July 2011 rally with Hezbollah in Mar Ilias refugee camp in Lebanon to honor wounded Palestinians who participated in the May 2011 “Nakba day” march. The march was organized in part on social networking sites calling for a “Third Palestinian Intifada,” or violent uprising against the State of Israel.

Toulouse Jewish Day School Shooter Linked to Banned Forsane Alizza

Update: French authorities have confirmed the death of Mohammed Merah after a 30-hour standoff at his home. A former spokesman for Forsane Alizza denied that Merah was ever a member.

French media is reporting that Mohammed Merah, the suspect behind Monday’s deadly shooting at a Jewish day school in Toulouse, France, has links to Forsane Alizza, a radical organization that was banned by the French government in January 2012 for supporting terrorism and preparing its members for “armed struggle.” 

During a standoff today between Merah and French authorities, Merah reportedly said he is a member of Al Qaeda and that he carried out the attacks as revenge for Palestinian children and as a reaction to French military intervention overseas. Merah, a French citizen of Algerian decent, has also been linked to two earlier attacks on French military.

Forsane Alizza (Arabic for "Knights of Honor"), which advocates a Salafist ideology that rejects democracy, sought to recruit members with martial arts training. “We are looking for all kinds of skills but soldiers above all,” read a statement on the group’s website. “So if you enjoy martial arts and are quick to respond when we call on you, then you are a good fit, inshallah [God willing]." The website, which featured videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, also expressed the group’s support for “mujhaideen wherever they are in the world.”

The group, which advocates for BDS on its website, organized several protests against Israel in France. In September 2011, its members disrupted the El Al counter at Roissy airport in Paris, shouting “Death to Israel!” and “Death to Jews!” In June 2010, they protested at a McDonald’s, telling customers that McDonald’s supports Israel.

Two members of the group were convicted by a French court on charges of “inciting racial hatred” and shouting anti-Semitic remarks at the restaurant. That same month, the group participated in a pro-flotilla rally in Paris.

Forsane Alizza seems to be currently operating with “Force de Défense Musulmane sur Internet.” Its stated goal is to remove online materials that they consider to be offensive to Muslims and Islam and to provide resources to those who are engaged in the same activity. Its activity is similar to that of Revolution Muslim, a fringe anti-Semitic Muslim organization that was based in New York and that attracted a radical following online.

French authorities indicated that Merah has been under surveillance for at least several years due to his radical beliefs. There have also been reports that he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for militant training, but French authorities say that they have no evidence that he had been in contact with terrorist groups.

Dubai Police to Issue Arrest Warrant for Radical Qatar-based Cleric

The chief of police in Dubai announced plans to issue an arrest warrant for the radical Muslim Brotherhood cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi. The decision comes in response to Qaradawi’s recent criticisms of the rulers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In his March 4^th television program, “Shariah and Life,” Qaradawi said that UAE leaders shouldn’t treat their citizens like “slaves” and described the leadership as “…not Gods. They are humans with money.” He also criticized the UAE’s position on the uprising in Syria and accused the authorities of deporting Syrians who oppose the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.

Qaradawi, who lives in Qatar, is banned from visiting the UAE but that didn’t seem to deter him. He specifically said: “If I can’t go to Emirates, then I can talk to them from this platform.”

The UAE is a Gulf state and a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which also includes Qatar. Qaradawi’s statements seemed to violate what political observers describe as a “Sheiks’ agreement” not to criticize GCC member states.

“Global March to Jerusalem” Meets With Militant Islamic Group in Lebanon

GMJ Meeting at Ain Al-Hilwa

The Lebanon Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem held a meeting last week at Ain Al-Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon with representatives of various Palestinian factions, including members of militant group Anssarullah, according to the Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon website.

Anssarullah, reportedly a “religious radical group” with a few hundred fighters in its membership, has been described by some observers as a Palestinian faction loyal to Hezbollah inside Ain Al-Hilwa. Its first reported attack took place in 2003 when two of its members, Hassan Suleiman and Ayman Zaidan, were reportedly killed in a suicide raid on an American convoy in Iraq.

The Global March to Jerusalem campaign seeks to coordinate efforts by international activists to cross Israel’s borders on March 30, 2012, and enter Jerusalem to “demand [its] freedom.” The campaign’s North American chapter, which is accepting tax-exempt donations through the California-based Free Palestine Movement, stated on its website that their “legal advisers in US have determined that it is better for them to operate separately from the main coalition.”

The Ain Al-Hilwa meeting was also attended by leaders representing the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Islamic Brigades and the Palestinian Alliance. During the meeting, Isam Halabi, Secretary General of the Gathering of Palestinian Martyrs, said “it is important to hold activities in support of our people inside the homeland who are facing an extermination war.”

Muslim Brotherhood Cleric Revives Anti-Semitic Deicide Charge

Radical Muslim Brotherhood cleric Sheik Yusuf Al Qaradawi issued a fatwa on his official Web site on February 13 in response to a question about whether the Vatican’s exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus is in agreement with Qur’anic narratives.

While Qaradawi acknowledges in his fatwa, titled “The Jews and the Blood of Christ,” that Jews did not kill Jesus nor crucify him, he says that they still conspired against and intended to kill him. He added that the Jews have a long history of killing God’s messengers and prophets.

“Present-day Jews,” according to Qaradawi, “are crime-partners of their forefathers,” because they “concur with these crimes and praise their forefathers.” He also cites “crimes” committed by Jews today “in the holy land against the elderly, the women and the children” as evidence of them continuing the “crimes of their forefathers.”

This Fatwa is the latest in a series of anti-Semitic statements by Qaradawi, who met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah earlier this month to welcome him as a new member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, his Qatari-based organization.

Hamas Leader Haniyah Joins Emerging Network of Islamists

 Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah became an official member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) on February 5, accelerating Hamas’ ambitions to gain support and publically align itself with emerging Islamist movement in the region. 

IUMS Membership Certificate to
"President of the Palestinian Government"
Ismail Haniyah   

The Qatar-based IUMS, which is chaired by radical cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, describes itself as a “pan-Muslim body,” working on “safeguarding the Muslim identity and bridging the gap between the peoples and their rulers in the Islamic countries.”  

Haniyah membership was announced during a ceremony held at the IUMS headquarters in Doha. At the ceremony, Haniyah received a certificate describing him as the “President of the Palestinian government” and confirming his membership in in the organization. Other Islamist leaders in the Arab world, who adhere to the Islamist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, joined the IUMS as well. 

Qaradawi’s support for Hamas is well established. In 2009, he reportedly allocated $21 million to Hamas to buy apartments and plots of land in Jerusalem to “build charitable institutions to broaden its base in the city,” according to the Israel Security Agency Shin Bet. Qaradawi, who has demonstrated consistent support of terrorist groups that seek to undermine a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, previously transferred tens of millions of dollars to Hamas directly through the Saudi-based Union of Good, an umbrella organization of over 50 charities worldwide.

During a session of an IUMS conference in Cairo on February 1, Dr. Salah Sultan described the recent civil unrest and church bombings in Egypt as the “acts of Jews.”

Attacker of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo Welcomed in Iran

Dhia Al-Sawi, who gained popularity in Egypt for his role in attacking the Israeli embassy in Cairo last year, attended a conference in Tehran, Iran, under the patronage of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The conference, held in the Iranian capital last week, was billed as “The International Conference for Youth and the Islamic Awakening.” 

Representing the “Egyptian youth,” Al-Sawi delivered a speech declaring that it was an honor to be involved in the attack on the “Zionist” embassy in September 2011. Asserting his support for Hamas and Hezbollah and his opposition to the State of Israel, Al-Sawi, stated “We are close to liberating Palestine. Just as we attacked the Zionist embassy in Cairo, a day will come, when we will liberate the prisoner mosque of Al-Aqsa.”

Al-Sawi further called on Arab and Muslim nations to unite in support of Iran’s nuclear program. “The Muslim nation and especially the new Arab revolutions should line up to support Iran’s right to possess nuclear knowledge and technology… If the Zio-American alliance and the West succeed in this battle, we will never obtain this technology.”

Al-Sawi’s speech concluded with a request that Khamenei proclaim May 15, Israel’s Independence Day, as a day to cleanse the Arab and Islamic world of Zionist embassies and consulates and attack them. In response to his request, the crowd cheered and chanted, “Death to Israel.”

Hundreds of Islamist leaders from more than 73 countries attended the conference, according to a recording of the event.

Salah Sultan Blames Jews For Egyptian Violence at Cairo Conference

During a session of the International Union of Muslim Scholars conference in Cairo on February 1, Dr. Salah Sultan described the recent civil unrest and church bombings in Egypt as the “acts of Jews.”

He also said, “God exposed [the Jews’] inner wickedness, exposed their secrets and they were made an example of to future nations.” Prior to Sultan’s speech at Al Azhar Islamic University, where the event is taking place, the crowd chanted: “To Jerusalem we are going as martyrs in millions.”

Sultan, who lived in the U.S. for a time and served as president of the Michigan-based Islamic American University (IAU), a subsidiary of the Muslim American Society, also made reference to a January 16 fire at his son’s home on Ohio. “The Zionist gangs burned my house in Hilliard in America with my son inside it.” (Media reports indicate that the fire is being investigated as a possible hate crime, but no information has yet come out regarding any suspects or motives.)

According to Egyptian media, more than 2000 scholars, including senior members in the Muslim Brotherhood, are attending the conference, which is billed as focusing on the role clerics and scholars have in building social peace.

While Sultan does not hold any official position in the Muslim Brotherhood political leadership, he dedicates the majority of his sermons and media appearances to explain the Brotherhood’s ideology and responds to criticism of the Islamist movement.

Sultan is the head of the Jerusalem committee of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, which is chaired by radical cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The group, which has issued several anti-Zionist fatwas, describes itself as a “pan-Muslim body,” working on “safeguarding the Muslim identity and bridging the gap between the peoples and their rulers in the Islamic countries.”

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.

Rampant Anti-Semitism on “March to Jerusalem” Facebook Page

Update – February 14, 2012: Gilad Atzmon, an anti-Semitic author, writer and musician, is scheduled to speak in Oakland, California, on February 25, at a “benefit for the Global March to Jerusalem – North America.”

The Facebook page of the “Global March to Jerusalem” campaign, which is coordinating efforts by activists to cross Israel’s borders and enter Jerusalem to “demand [its] freedom,” is rife with anti-Semitic and other extreme content.

The designated date for the “Global March to Jerusalem” (GMJ) is March 30, 2012, or “Land Day,” which commemorates six Israeli Arabs who were killed while protesting against Israeli soldiers in 1976.

The Facebook page features what it describes as “worldwide Jewish lobby news,” which links to an anti-Semitic Web site that features Holocaust denial. One of the news items reposted to the Facebook page calls Tel Aviv’s status as a gay-friendly destination consistent with “historical Jewish efforts to spread corruption and perversion among all human societies.”

In early January, a poll was posted on the GMJ Facebook page with the question, “Are what the Zionists doing to Palestine and its people with expulsion and killing similar to Hitler’s Holocaust?” The poll choices were, “Yes,” “No,” or “Even Worse.” 

Among the extreme comments found on the page is one that reads: “We will not go to Jerusalem as if we are going to Paris or as if we are going for tourism…This is our land. This is our country and we shall return to it through blood and martyrs. We will liberate it from the Jewish impurity by God’s will…By God we shall not enter it other than conquerors, this is God’s promise and God shall not forsake his promise.”

The administrator of the page posted a picture of the Ka’aba [the holiest shrine for Muslims] in Mecca with the message, “The alarm bells are ringing for over 65 years…the Zionist entity is demanding Jewish property in Saudi Arabia dating to the prophet’s time.”

Muslim Brotherhood Official: "We do not recognize Israel at all!"

In an January 1, 2012, interview with the Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper, Rashad Bayoumi, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, vowed that his group would never recognize Israel. "We do not recognize Israel at all. It is a raping, occupying, criminal enemy entity. I shall never tolerate for myself to sit with a criminal and we shall not deal with Israel under any circumstances…The peace treaty absolutely does not obligate me and the people will give their opinion about this."