Former Jerusalem mufti says "don't visit Jerusalem"

A wonderful example of the rigorous logic of Israel haters:

Former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Ekrima Sabri criticized a controversial visit by Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa to al-Aqsa Mosque, saying it was wrong both religiously and politically.

“On the religious level, one should not deal with, support, or recognize the enemy,” Sheikh Sabri said in an interview with Al Arabiya’s “Noqtat Nezam” (Point of Order), scheduled to be aired on Friday.

Defenders of Gomaa’s visit to Jerusalem have cited the Prophet Mohammed’s visit to Mecca while the city was under control of the tribe of Quraish , his enemy at the time.

But Sheikh Sabri rejected this comparison saying: “When Prophet Mohammed went to Mecca, it was not under occupation while Jerusalem is.”

Say what? The two sound pretty analogous to me - Muslim holy cities under control of their enemies.

But it gets better:

Sheikh Sabri said from a political perspective Gomaa’s visit implied the recognition of Israeli’s occupation.

“Recognition is a form of normalization because no one can enter Jerusalem without an Israeli visa or without proper coordination with the Israeli security forces.”

But if Muslim citizens of Europe or America visit Israel, their visit would not be considered as an act of “recognizing the occupation,” Sabri said.

“If German or French Muslims visit Jerusalem, this is not normalization since their countries already recognize Israel.

“Some Arab governments might not boycott Israel, but their people do and they reject normalization.”

So when Germany or France recognizes Israel, that means that German or French Muslims can visit Israel. But when Egypt and Jordan recognize Israel, it means that Egyptian or Jordanians cannot visit Israel, because somehow it is the people who decide that they do not want to recognize Israel.

Yet if people want to visit Jerusalem, they shouldn't be allowed to because, um, the other people don't want them to!

All of this is pretty much a very poor attempt to put a fig leaf of poor logic on top of what is, in effect, just plain hatred.

Jerusalem Grand Muftis come and they go, but they all seem to have that good old fashioned hatred in common.