by Itamar Marcus and Nan
Jacques Zilberdik
In the course of his
visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority next week, as a matter of
protocol, Pope Francis, the most senior figure in the Catholic Church, is
scheduled to meet with Israel's two chief rabbis as well as the most senior
religious figure in the PA, the Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein. What Pope
Francis may not be aware of, is that the Mufti has an ongoing record of vicious
Antisemitic hate speech, which has been condemned internationally. In 2012, the
Mufti preached that it is Muslim destiny to kill the Jews. On another occasion,
in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he taught that Jews were "enemies of Allah,"
and in another speech he said that the souls of suicide bombers "tell us
to follow in their path."
In his 2012 speech at a Fatah celebration in East
Jerusalem, the Mufti linked the extermination of Jews to "Palestine,"
and claimed that Israelis know this religious war, "Jihad," is coming
and are trying to protect themselves by planting a special tree that will hide
them from Muslims when they come to kill them.
Moderator
at Fatah ceremony: "Our war with the
descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and
faith. Long Live Fatah! [I invite you,] our honorable Sheikh."
Palestinian Authority Mufti Muhammad Hussein: "47 years ago the [Fatah] revolution started. Which
revolution? The modern revolution of the Palestinian people's history. In fact,
Palestine in its entirety is a revolution,
since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says:
since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says:
'The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you
fight the Jews.
The Jew will hide behind stones or trees.
Then the stones or trees will call:
'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me,
come and kill him.'
Except the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent].'
Therefore it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees] surrounding
the [Israeli] settlements and colonies. [Gharqad trees] surrounding,
surrounding and surrounding. That's the Palestine we are talking about, with
the beginning of the Jihad and the continuation of the Jihad with the struggle
and the procession of the Martyrs." [Official PA TV, Jan. 9, 2012]
It is unknown whether the Mufti knew in advance that
the moderator would refer to the Jews as "descendants of monkeys and
pigs," and declare that the Palestinian - Israel conflict "is a war
of religion and faith." However - as can be seen in the video - the
Mufti did not hesitate, retract or condemn the statement, asserting
instead that Palestinians are destined to exterminate the Jews.
When Palestinian Media Watch
publicized this hate speech, the Mufti's
words were condemned by Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, the
British Foreign Office, the European Union and many others. (See
condemnations of the Mufti's hate speech below.)
In another speech, the Mufti praised numerous suicide bombers who had murdered Israeli civilians as an "elite group of Martyrs." He added an explicit call to murder: "The souls of the noble Martyrs envelop us, and their souls tell us to follow in their path." [Official PA TV, May 31, 2012]
In
another sermon the Mufti called the Jews "enemies of Allah" who
"have even deviated from their humanity." [Al-Aqsa Mosque
forum, June 25, 2010]
The Mufti also
promotes hatred by rejecting Jewish rights in Jerusalem by denying that a Temple ever
existed in Jerusalem:
"In truth, there never was a Temple in any period,
nor was there, at any time, any place of worship for the Jews or others at the
Al-Aqsa Mosque site (built on the Temple Mount, 705 CE)." [Official PA TV,
Jan. 5, 2012]
In addition, the
Mufti makes a point of publicly rejecting Christian tradition, teaching
that Jesus was not a Judean, but a Palestinian who preached
Islam.
Click to view the Mufti
calling Jesus "a Palestinian par excellence" and claiming that Jesus
and his mother Mary were
Palestinians.
The Mufti has also
issued religious rulings presenting women as subservient to their
husbands, declaring on PA TV that "in general, a woman must [only] leave
home at the discretion of her husband," and that a woman must not refuse
her husband's demand to have sexual relations:
"It's his right [to have sex]... it is his right.
This woman may not and has no right to deny him this right,
especially during the permissible time, which is nighttime." [Official PA
TV, Aug. 12, 2012]
Clearly, the Mufti's
preaching of Antisemitic and genocidal ideology will destroy any chance for
peace. As long as Jews are portrayed as Allah's enemies destined to be killed
by Palestinians, peace talks are irrelevant. Adjusting a border or signing a
peace treaty will not erase the stigma attached to the Jews by the PA's most
senior religious leader.
In spite of the Mufti's
call to exterminate Jews and the subsequent international condemnations, PA
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not remove the Mufti from his office, nor did
he demand a retraction.
Palestinian
Media Watch is confident that the Pope, a symbol of peace and
tolerance, will not knowingly honor a Palestinian religious leader who promotes
hatred and intolerance. PMW is confident that should Pope Francis choose to
meet with the PA Mufti, he will do his utmost to impress on the Palestinian
religious leader the necessity of retracting his promotion of genocide of Jews
by Palestinians and the abhorrent nature of those opinions.
The following are a few of the condemnations of the
Mufti's hate speech that were expressed immediately after PMW publicized his
speech in 2012.
EU statement condemns hate speech by Jerusalem Mufti:
EU statement condemns hate speech by Jerusalem Mufti:
"The EU
missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah condemn the Mufti of
Jerusalem's inflammatory speech on January 9 at a rally marking the 47th
anniversary of Fatah's founding...
In line with
Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the EU
firmly rejects 'any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that
constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or
violence'."
[http://bit.ly/1qRwgW6 , Jan. 28, 2012]
British Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt
condemns Mufti's hate speech:
"I condemn the inflammatory words used by the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and others at a recent event marking the 47th
anniversary of the Fatah movement. To refer to the Jewish people in such a way
and to talk of killing Jews is anti-semitism, pure and simple."
[http://bit.ly/1p8P4vm,
Jan. 23, 2012]
Excerpt from the Associated Press on the Mufti's
statements:
"The Palestinians' top Muslim cleric faced sharp
Israeli criticism Sunday for a speech in which he quoted a religious text that
includes passages about killing Jews in an end-of-days struggle."
[Associated
Press, Jan. 22, 2012]
VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES
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