Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Qaradawi

Showing posts with label Qaradawi. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

10/25 Links Pt2: The New Progressivism Makes No Room for Jews; How did a radical Islamist fool the West?; Adidas drops Kanye West

From Ian:

The New Progressivism Makes No Room for Jews

In 2016, as “intersectionality” escaped from academia to become a progressive buzzword—and came to to signify a doctrine that all just causes are linked and complementary—David L. Bernstein began to suspect that it was apt to be used against the Jews. As he pointed out in an article published that year, activists argued under the banner of intersectionality that anyone opposed to racism in the U.S. should also oppose the existence of Israel. He thought, however, that there was hope:
While I didn’t say so explicitly, I’d come to believe that the mainstream Jewish community needed to find a way to include the Jewish narrative in the intersectional matrix—to complicate it—so that Jews and Israel were not viewed as the perennial oppressors and Palestinians the perennial victims. Concerned about the growing backlash to my article, I used the opportunity [to participate in a panel discussion with some of my critics] to soften my stance on the topic, stating “I still have much to learn,” and that “intersectionality is a complex, interesting, and nuanced phenomenon that we need to understand, not just from the perspective of the pro-Israel community, but from its own perspective as well.”

Bernstein, at the time still president of the left-leaning Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), soon learned that there was little room for such a compromise position:
[In 2020], the JCPA pulled together a Zoom meeting for a coalition called Jews for Criminal Justice Reform, which included top Jewish criminal-justice activists from around the country. After an inspiring talk by Paul Fishman—a former federal attorney from New Jersey—on the need to end mass incarceration, we broke up into smaller groups to discuss next steps. A lawyer named Jared, the group facilitator for my breakout session, asked, “What do you all think our criminal-justice reform priorities ought to be?” Ariella, a young professional staffer from a Jewish civil-rights organization, interjected, “Before we talk about strategy, there’s a lot of internal work we have to do in the Jewish community. We need to recognize our complicity in white supremacy and ensure we have black Jews at the forefront of these efforts.”

More and more, that’s how it is now: a young staff person holding the work process hostage until we recite some prescribed litany of woke pieties. What, pray tell, did Ariella think all this self-reflection would do to help black people get out of being jailed for low-level drug charges? I suspect she didn’t have a clue. And as things turned out, our breakout session never discussed a single criminal-justice reform measure.

In short, Bernstein discovered that there is no room in this brand of progressive ideology to see Jews as anything but oppressors, and for Jews to do anything but proclaim their own imagined sins. This discovery is the subject of his newly published book, Woke Antisemitism.

How did a radical Islamist fool the West? - analysis

Many articles written about Qaradawi after his death emphasized his condemnation of al-Qaeda and ISIS and his moderate rulings permitting certain Western conduct for Muslims living as minorities in Western countries.

These articles portrayed him as many Westerners wanted to see him: a widely accepted authentic Islamic scholar who wanted to dialogue with the West and rejected violence.

However, the intelligence center noted that many of these articles left out that he helped shape “the concept of violent jihad,” especially justifying “carrying out terror attacks, including suicide bombing attacks, against Israeli citizens, the US forces in Iraq, and some of the Arab regimes.”

Qaradawi supported violent jihad and suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians. He was a source of supreme religious authority for Hamas at a time when many Islamic scholars still prohibited suicide of any kind.

Qaradawi claimed that violence was a legitimate expression of the so-called “resistance” and that Israel was a militaristic society in which every civilian is a potential soldier, said the report.

His antisemitism was not limited to Israel, with the report saying he frequently expressed antisemitic statements worldwide and even issued a fatwa authorizing attacks on Jews around the world.

In that fatwa, “he claimed that there is no essential difference between Judaism and Zionism, and therefore every Jewish target equals an Israeli target,” according to the report.

‘The Squad’ urges Biden administration to negotiate ceasefire in Ukraine

30 Democratic US Congressmembers – most notably the young progressives who have become colloquially known as “The Squad” – penned a letter to President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday in which they ask the administration to avoid direct military conflict and attempt to bring Russia and Ukraine to a ceasefire.

“Given the catastrophic possibilities of nuclear escalation and miscalculation, which only increase the longer this war continues, we agree with your goal of avoiding direct military conflict as an overriding national-security priority,” the letter read. A call for diplomacy

The congress members noted the difficulties involved in a settlement, particularly with the issue of annexed territories in the east of Ukraine, though they also mentioned Biden’s commitment to end the war. While no concrete plan of action was presented in the letter, the congress members suggested that easing sanctions against Russia would be a natural step to take.

“Such a framework would presumably include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief, and bring together the international community to establish security guarantees for a free and independent Ukraine that are acceptable for all parties, particularly Ukrainians.”

“The alternative to diplomacy is a protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks,” the letter continues.

The signers of the letter also pointed to the food and commodity crises brought upon by the war as reasons to seek an end to the war. “Economists believe that if the situation in Ukraine is stabilized, some of the speculative concerns driving higher fuel costs will subside and likely lead to a drop in world oil prices.”

Muslim clerics have always used Jerusalem as a political fatwa football

Yesterday I reported that the Mufti of Jerusalem issued a fatwa saying that UAE residents are “forbidden by law” to visit Al Aqsa.

Now a major Islamic scholar, former deputy at Al Azhar University, says that the Palestinian Mufti doesn’t know anything about Islamic law.

Dr. Abbas Shoman, a member of the Supreme Council of Senior Scholars of Al Azhar Al Sharif, expressed his astonishment over a fatwa forbidding Emiratis’ prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque, issued by the Mufti of Jerusalem after the announcement of the UAE-Israel peace treaty.

Dr. Shoman said: “I refuse to issue Sharia fatwas that are not based on sharia rules, and I do not know as a specialist in Islamic jurisprudence that there is a justification that annuls the prayers of an entire people of a Muslim country in a mosque on the grounds of a political position taken by their state.”

He added: “Indeed, the fatwa is selective and not based on Sharia….As far as I know, there has never been a fatwa in our Islamic history that prevents a person or a group from praying in a mosque for Muslims.”

This actually is similar to another dispute from 2012 when a former Mufti of Jerusalem Ekrima Sabri criticized Egypt’s Grand Mufti visiting Jerusalem. He used bizarre logic:

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.”

Another dispute over whether Muslims can visit Jerusalem erupted in 2010 when an Egyptian soccer team planned to play a friendly match against the Palestinian team in the West Bank, and Egyptian extremist clerics issued a fatwa against it.

Similarly, major Muslim Brotherhood cleric Yusuf Qaradawi once issued a fatwa against non-Palestinian Muslims visiting Jerusalem:

He stressed in remarks published yesterday in Doha, "We should feel that we are deprived of Jerusalem and fight for it so that Jerusalem is ours, and that the responsibility to defeat the Zionist aggression is the responsibility of the Islamic nation as a whole and not the responsibility of the Palestinian people alone," he said, adding: "It is not reasonable to leave the Palestinians alone in the face of the Zionist state with a large military capabilities."
He said that "Jerusalem will not return except through resistance and jihad, and the combined efforts of the Arab and Islamic nation."

Muslim clerics like to use Jerusalem as a political football, just like Muslim politicians do. Indeed, there seems to be little distinction between Islamic jurisprudence and politics based on how Muslim clerics have issued contradictory (and sometimes self-contradictory) fatwas on Jerusalem in ways that happen to align with their political positions.

Latest Muslim leader accused of being a secret Jew is a good one

If you want to insult your opponent in the Muslim world, you can't do better than to call him a Jew - or worse than a Jew.

We've already seen Muslim Brotherhood supporters claiming that Egypt's al-Sisi is Jewish, and we've seen Sisi's supporters saying that the original founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was Jewish.

We've seen Shiites accused of being worse than Jews, secularists accused of being worse than Jews. and Islamists accused of being worse than Jews.

So who's left?

Why, it is our favorite antisemite and popular TV preacher, Sheikh Yussuf Qaradawi!

According to a pro-Shiite newspaper, "research" has shown that Qaradawi's family came from an area where
Jews of the Bani Qurayza tribe had fled from Arabia to Egypt. His grandfather practiced usury, just like the Jews, and gouged farmers with high interest loans. He would confer with Jewish rabbis on how to do his immoral money lending business. In other words, while they don't want to say it explicitly, Qaradawi is of obvious Jewish descent!

Qaradawi had called for jihad against Syria and Hezbollah, which pretty much explains this whole accusation.

Old video of Erdogan visiting Herzl's grave causing him embarrassment

The accusations in the Muslim and Arab world of political opponents being Jewish or Zionist continue.

A video of Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan visiting the grave of Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, apparently during a 2005 trip, is causing him embarrassment as it has resurfaced on a number of websites. To make matters worse, he is shown next to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Towards the end we see Erdogan paying respects at the grave of a master terrorist in Ramallah, but that is not controversial at all.

Apparently, opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood are circulating this to discredit Erdogan's support for the Islamists.

Similarly, the statement that antisemitic preacher Yusuf Qaradawi made recently - that "even the Jews" never performed a massacre like the army in Egypt did last week - is now being spun as if Qaradawi was "praising the humanity of the Israeli Army"!

Photos of Qaradawi with Neturei Karta nutcases cannot be far behind.

Tamarod Gaza gaining steam; releases video slamming Hamas

I had mentioned the Tamarod Palestine Facebook group that was making Hamas so nervous.

That group was against both Hamas and Fatah. But Tamarod Gaza is only against Hamas, and they are growing, now with over 30,000 Facebook "Likes."

They are pushing for a major anti-Hamas rally in Gaza on November 11, and just released a video slamming Hamas for its actions.

The video says that Hamas practices "murder, torture, vandalism and bullying, bribery, smuggling, as if they were one of the gangs in the Middle Ages, but it's shameful shameful that they practice [these crimes] in the name of religion and the homeland and the resistance..."

The group misses the old Hamas, the one that fought only against Israel. "The Hamas of today is not the Hamas of Yassin," they say.

Tamarod Gaza's message ends by saying "All our options are open, but we disagree with you as to the choice of weapon. We are not raising arms against our brothers, but you are; we are after bloodshed but you are; we do not drag bodies in the streets, but you do; we will not kill children and men, women and young people, but you do; we do not demolish mosques, but you do; we understand Palestine and its people and their will, their pride and dignity but not you."

Hamas has said that Fatah is behind this group and has started a crackdown on suspected members.

Qaradawi: "Even the Jews never did a massacre like the Egyptians"

Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the antisemitic, terror supporting TV preacher who is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, decided to use the J-bomb in his criticism of the Egyptian crackdown on Islamists.

In a phone interview on Al Jazeera, he said that he never saw such a "massacre" such as the army in Egypt performed with the help of the police, "even from the Jews."

He claimed that they killed and burned thousands of demonstrators.

Qaradawi demanded that Egyptians go out "to defend the gains of the January revolution and the defense of the innocent martyrs."

Even worse than the Jews? How can such a thing be?

Gaza could get lots more goods through Israel, but they choose not to

This week I had an email conversation with the COGAT Gaza spokeswoman about the precise process of how goods get transferred into Gaza.

Here is how it works. (These are mostly COGAT's words, I edited them from multiple emails):

When a Gaza businessman wants to order goods from Israel privately, his first stop would be at the PA offices. There, there's a committee that is in charge of integrating all the requests and putting them in order, the Civil Committee of the PA, according to the format that is familiar to both sides. After that, it is that committee's job to pass a list of trucks that are to cross the next day. The head of the civil committee is in direct contact with the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) and they work with him closely every day, through phone calls and meetings, in order to make the work process efficient. The PA committee is the CLA's POC, but it is not the one ordering the goods.

When the lists are received at the Gaza CLA, they get to the approval process, and once they are approved they are passed to the CLA's representatives at Kerem Shalom, who are the first to receive the truck drivers the next morning.

As of today, the capacity of Kerem Shalom is 400 trucks per day. Due to the number of requests from the PA Civil Committee the number of trucks crossing per day never reaches 400. It can go up to 300 trucks on a good day.

Of course, if the Palestinian side would like to add more trucks to cross at Kerem Shalom, they're free to do so. The Israeli side will make its arrangements to meet the demands.

Unfortunately, many trucks are a no show at the crossing, for Palestinian personal matters. The trucks are coordinated, and are on the list, but every day the CLA sees a large number of blank forms for trucks that never crossed. That depends almost entirely on the Palestinians. Should they decide to cancel a truck for whatever reason, the CLA only knows about it at the end of the day, when they sum up the merchandise that went through. (It appears possible that the Israeli seller might renege sometimes as well, but that doesn't appear to be the normal case.)

The Palestinian businessmen do their coordination with Israeli private companies on their own. They only interact with COGAT (through the PA) when it comes to making sure the goods actually cross.

My comments:

While Kerem Shalom can handle 400 trucks a day, and perhaps 300 actually are hired typically, often dozens of the expected trucks never make it, for whatever logistical reasons that the Gazans canceled the delivery at the last minute. Last week about 10% of the expected trucks did not arrive.

The upshot is that Kerem Shalom is not being run at capacity - not even close. If Israel's "siege" was so painful, one would expect that the crossing would be over capacity and that there would be pressure to expand it. But even now that Egypt has cracked down on smuggling, Kerem Shalom is not close to its limit. It has increased transfers markedly, from 4700 in February to 6600 in July, but it can handle far more.

It seems apparent that Hamas prefers goods to be sent through Rafah than from Israel, for a number of reasons. One is that the PA is not involved in Rafah tunnels. Another is that Hamas can tax tunnel goods at will. Yet another is that fuel and some other smuggled goods are cheap because Egypt subsidizes them, so Hamas can buy things like construction material and diesel at a discount. And the fourth is that Israel happily ships goods to businessmen and to NGOs, but not to Hamas. (Also, dual-use materials are still restricted so Hamas has no choice but to smuggle those.)

People and businesses in Gaza don't need that many imports from Egypt - but Hamas does.

The simple fact is that if Gaza was suffering from a "crushing siege," Kerem Shalom would be operating at capacity. It isn't.

Terror-supporting Islamist visits the White House

The Investigative Project on Terrorism reports:

Radical Egyptian cleric Yusuf Qaradawi is considered so radical that the United States bans him from entering the country.

Qaradawi, considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, has called for the killing of Jews and Americans.

That history makes the June 13 White House meeting with Sheik Abdullah Bin Bayyah all the more inexplicable. Bin Bayyah is vice president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a group founded by and headed by Qaradawi. The IUMS has a long history of supporting Hamas –a top Hamas leader is an IUMS member – and of calling for Israel's destruction.

Bin Bayyah's website claims that he met June 13 with senior Obama administration officials at the White House.

Nonetheless, it was the Obama administration which sought the meeting with Bin Bayyah, his website's account said.

"We asked for this meeting to learn from you and we need to be looking for new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars (another name used for the IUMS)," Gayle Smith, senior director of the National Security Council, reportedly said.

Bin Bayyah's June 13 account placed other senior officials in the meeting, including:Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and White House spokeswomanJennifer Palmieri. But the account was later changed to delete the reference to Donilon's presence at the meeting.

Smith also thanked Bin Bayyah for "his efforts to bring more understanding amongst humanity" during the meeting, the Bin Bayyah account said.

The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comments between June 14 and Tuesday.

This was reported in Arab media, including Al Jazeera. There is no way to verify whether his report on what happened at the White House is accurate without the administration verifying or denying it.

Here's the largest photo I could find so people can identify who was there (click to enlarge):

While the major topic seems to have been Syria, Bin Bayyah is simply not someone the White House should be speaking with.

Interestingly, on his website Bin Bayyah seems to be a big advocate of Muslim dialogue with Western non-Muslims, as long as it can bring advantage to Muslims. He doesn't say that Muslims can learn anything from this dialogue; but rather they can speak to Westerners using the language of human rights and diversity to help the Islamic agenda, as well as to teach Westerners that issues like human rights and equality are Muslim values as well - but not absolute values, rather they must be interpreted within Islamic ideas of "justice."

(h/t Dennis)

Arab journalists boycotting Qaradawi's visit to Gaza

From AP:

Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi arrived for his first visit to Gaza as a top cleric

Wednesday, making one of the most high-profile visits to the Palestinian territory since the Islamic group Hamas seized control in 2007.

Al-Qaradawi is a prominent scholar and Qatar-based cleric who is widely respected in the Muslim world, and his visit emboldens Hamas.

The rival Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank was angered by the visit, claiming it served to strengthen the Palestinians’ bitter political division.

“Any visit that carries a political significance, that acknowledges the legitimacy of Hamas in Gaza, is considered harmful and against the interest of the Palestinian people,” said Mahmoud Al Habash, minister of religious affairs in the West Bank.

There is a curious lack of coverage of this visit in Arabic, though.

The reason is that most journalists are boycotting coverage in protest of Hamas attacks against them during PFLP anti-Israel demonstrations a couple of days ago. 5 Arab journalists were injured when Hamas broke up the rally.

AFP's reporting on Qaradawi in Gaza came from a photographer, not a journalist!

Muslims are describing the visit as "a deadly blow" on Israel's "siege" of Gaza. One would think that they would have realized by now that Islamist Egypt borders Gaza. Geography must not be taught in Islamist schools.

Qaradawi will give a sermon on Friday as well as do photo-op visits to "scenes of devastation" and Hamas leaders.

The Jew that Sheikh Qaradawi couldn't stand to be near

I noted last week that Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, influential Muslim preacher and terror supporter, refused to attend the 10th annual Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue" because he did not want to share the stage with Jews, who he blames for "usurping Palestine."

So who is the Jew who he snubbed?

Apparently, the only Jew to attend this conference - and he has attended it for years - is Reuven Firestone, a left wing reform rabbi, professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College, and founder and co-director of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. He has written books about Judaism for Muslims and about Islam for Jews.

In 2007, Firestone was invited to give a lecture at Ain Shams University but he ended up causing an uproar when it was revealed that he was Jewish - and a rabbi, to boot.

The furore has caused ripples beyond academia, with 20 parliamentary members quick to jump on the bandwagon and demand that the speaker of the People's Assembly summon members of the parliament's Educational Committee for an urgent meeting to determine who is responsible for the convening of such seminars.

They have also demanded that Hani Helal, the minister of higher education, be sacked.

"We are not going to allow Jews to desecrate our universities, spread their Zionist views and brainwash our students," railed independent MP Gamal Zahran.

A video tape and Arabic translation of the lecture are currently being studied by a committee formed by the university to investigate whether there is any substance to claims that the lecture was offensive to Islam.

His book about Judaism for Muslims (available online in Arabic for free) also came under withering attack in major Arab media, aghast that a different perspective is available where Muslims might accidentally read it.

Firestone is as pro-Islam as it is possible for a non-Muslim to be, but his very existence is threatening to many Muslims - because he is a Jew.

He wrote a paper about "contextualizing" anti-semitism in Islam. I don't have access to the full text, although in the first page extract you can see that he admits that there is plenty of Jew-hatred in Egypt, where he lived for a time. I would love to know how this specific brand of hate can be "contextualized."

But no matter how he can find excuses for Islamic Jew-hatred, it will never make the haters like him one bit more.

By the way, the anti-semite Qaradawi plans to visit his Gaza fans on May 8.

Qaradawi: "I will not share the stage with Jews"

Today is the start of the tenth annual Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue:

At the 10th Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of

establishing the annual conference on interfaith dialogue in Qatar by presenting to the world the work of interfaith at its best. Therefore, we are inviting organizations, institutions, universities and NGOs working in the field of interfaith dialogue to present their successful projects in this domain, and to display their best achievements during the event. The Doha International Award on Interfaith dialogue will be granted for the first time to a person or institution which will present the best practice in the field of interfaith dialogue.

We have seen before that these conferences are usually not at all about dialogue and everything about preaching Islam. Muslims and liberal non-Muslims happily play along to make Islam look more tolerant.

But this time, popular Islamic terror supporter, preacher and TV personality Sheikh Yusef Qaradawi couldn't even go along with the charade that he can stand talking to Jews as equals.

Qaradawi rejected participating in the conference when he found out that Jews would be there as well.

Qatar media quoted Sheikh Qaradawi as saying that "after the announcement of the expansion of the conference to be a dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews, I decided not to participate in it so as not to sit with Jews on a single platform, as long as the Jews are usurping Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque and destroying homes of God, and as long as the question of Palestine hung not been resolved."

He didn't say "Zionists." I don't know what rabbis actually participate in these things but it is a safe bet that they are not from Israel. Qaradawi is simply proving that he hates Jews.

So far, I have not seen any criticism of Qaradawi for his public display of antisemitism.

Arab writers more willing to show their anti-semitism during conflict

One of the interesting consequences of the current fighting is that the carefully-cultivated Arab and Muslim mask of pretending not to be anti-semitic is falling off, and fast.

While usually Arab writers are careful to say that they are only against "Zionists," the amount of naked Jew-hatred has been exploding in the Arabic media in the past couple of days.

Al Watan Voice, which already had a problem distinguishing Jews from Israelis in recent months, went all-out in an article today, calling Israel "the Jewish entity" and even claiming that the emir of Qatar said that the aggression of the Jews "must not go unpunished." (The Emir actually didn't say "Jews.") It ends off with a Quranic entreaty to "fight the Jews."

Ma'an, which tries so hard to appear to be a sober, even-handed news source, has an Arabic op-ed that goes off the rails. The author says that the Jews are too cowardly to fight face-to-face, and that even in 1948 the Jews of Tel Aviv cowered in front of brave Arabs. (Apparently, shooting rockets towards Israeli civilians is the height of bravery.) The writer adds that historically, Jews have felt inferior to others, and have brought strife everywhere they lived.

The theme of Jewish cowardice is further displayed in this Palestine News Network article extolling the "hundred" Hamas rocket experts who are forcing millions of Jews to cower in bomb shelters. They claim that the rockets are "shaking the throne of Israel." The author goes on to say that most of the fighters are waiting in their tunnels to kill the Jews who dare to enter Gaza while the mere hundred rocket launchers are causing so much trouble in Israel.

Islam Today also goes to the Koran to find justification for their anti-Jewish hate.

The Sinai jihadist group that claims to have fired missiles into Israel from Egypt also explicitly notes that their enemy is "the Jews."

And as I posted earlier today, Yusuf Qaradawi explicitly called on Allah to punish the Jews at Al Azhar mosque last Friday.

Yusuf Qaradawi asks Allah to "deal with" (destroy) the Jews

Video:

As my translator "Al Gharqad" notes:

"Allahuma alayka bil-yahud iz-zalimin il-jairin, Allahuma alayka bil-yahud il-mustakbirin il-mutajabbirin"

This means:
Allah, "alayka bi" the tyrannical and despotic Jews, Allah, "alayka bi" the arrogant and tyrant Jews

"Alayka bi" is a curse, which has no exact English translation. It is a prayer to Allah to do something with the subject of the curse. This "something" has been translated in many different ways:

1. "Take" (as in "kill"):
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/imagery/0020
(second line from top)

2. "Destroy":
http://www.kalamullah.com/qunoot.html
(sixth Arabic paragraph from bottom)

3. "Deal with":
Egyptian President Morsi Joins Preacher in Prayer for Dispersal of the Jews
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3614.htm
(0:26)

Either way, he isn't calling for Allah to punish Zionists or Israelis - but Jews.

Qaradawi is perhaps the most popular preacher in the Sunni Muslim world and has famously encouraged suicide bombings.

Qaradawi hospitalized

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, one of the most prominent Islamic leaders who supports suicide bombings but it considered a "moderate," is in a hospital in Jeddah for undisclosed reasons.

His aide asked that his followers pray for him.

Qaradawi, 86, is the president of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars and his Friday speeches are televised to tens of millions of Muslims. He has called to "cleanse Palestine" from Jews.

One of his most famous fatwas was this one:

Question: I would like to ask about the ruling of Palestinian women carrying out martyr operations. Fulfilling this mission may demand that they travel alone, without a mahram,[5] and they may need to take off their hijab, the matter which may expose part of their 'awrah.[6] Would you please comment on this? I'd prefer Dr. Qaradawi to answer this urgent question, if you please.

Dr. Qaradawi answers: The martyr operation is the greatest of all sorts of jihad in the cause of Allah. A martyr operation is carried out by a person who sacrifices himself, deeming his life [of] less value than striving in the cause of Allah, in the cause of restoring the land and preserving the dignity. To such a valorous attitude applies the following Qur'anic verse: "And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah hath compassion on (His) bondmen." (Qur'an, 2: 207)

...Martyrdom is a heroic act of choosing to suffer death in the cause of Allah, and that's why it's considered by most Muslim scholars as one of the greatest forms of jihad.

When jihad becomes an individual duty, as when the enemy seizes the Muslim territory, a woman becomes entitled to take part in it alongside men. ...A woman should go out even without the consent of her husband, a son can go too without the permission of his parent, a slave without the approval of his master, and the employee without the leave of his employer....I believe a woman can participate in this form of jihad according to her own means and condition. Also, the organizers of these martyr operations can benefit from some, believing women as they may do, in some cases, what is impossible for men to do.

As for the point that carrying out this operation may involve woman's travel from [one] place to another without a mahram, we say that a woman can travel to perform Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] in the company of other trustworthy women and without the presence of any mahram as long as the road is safe and secured.

Concerning the point on hijab, a woman can put on a hat or anything else to cover her hair. Even when necessary, she may take off her hijab in order to carry out the operation, for she is going to die in the cause of Allah and not to show off her beauty or uncover her hair. I don't see any problem in her taking off hijab in this case.

To conclude, I think the committed Muslim women in Palestine have the right to participate and have their own role in jihad and to attain martyrdom.

Hamas sent out women suicide bombers after this fatwa.

So prayers might indeed be in order - to finally rid the world of this evil man.

Backlash against Morsi's mosque visit

From MEMRI:

In his daily column, Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb of the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram discussed a MEMRI TV clip that shows Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi attending Friday prayers on October 19, 2012, at a mosque in the city of Marsa Matrouh, nodding his head and answering "amen" as the preacher curses "the Jews."

Over the past two days, MEMRI 'caught' a fat fish, which it is now streaming worldwide via the Internet: a television clip of President Mursi during his last visit to [the northwestern city of] Marsa Matrouh. [Mursi is seen] sitting in the front row amongst the congregants of the Al-Tana'im Mosque, listening resignedly to a Friday sermon by Sheikh Futouh 'Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, head of the Islamic Endowment in Marsa Matrouh.
"As usual, Sheikh Mansour concludes his sermon, in the presence of President Mursi, of course, with the following supplication: 'Oh Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, deal with the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. Oh Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them. Show us Your omnipotence, oh Lord.' Of course, Mursi nodded his head, mumbling 'amen' along with the congregants after each supplication [against the Jews].

MEMRI is now streaming this scene on the Internet and distributing it around the world with audio and video, and with English subtitles. This is very embarrassing to the president. I do not know how the honorable president would respond if asked: 'Do you agree with what Sheikh Futouh said?' If he says no, it is a problem, and if he says yes, it is an even bigger problem. I believe that no one will ask the president this question, but the case and its implications will not go over well [with Western viewers], since this matter embodies the massive gap that still exists between the official contractual obligation for peace with Israel, and the popular objection to this [peace] agreement. As part of his official duty, the president must respect the agreement, as he has stated many times, but he also cannot disconnect from the prevailing popular mood. This is a complex problem that must be dealt with more wisely. Furthermore, it is important to be well prepared for such events.

As for Sheikh Futouh, I do not know if his honor knows that his name, voice, and image are now circling the globe [and spreading] on wide-reaching social networks, and that he is being accused, whether directly or indirectly, of antisemitism. [Publishing his words and image around the world] did not even occur to him, and he might not have even heard of it.

That is refreshing, and it is not the only bad feedback to this episode from the Muslim world.

Egypt's Al Azhar came out with an opinion that it is not permissible for imams to curse "Jews" or "Christians" as a whole. Other scholars agreed, and if I am reading it correctly even the infamous Yusuf Qaradawi sayd you can pray for the destruction of Jewish usurpers, but not Jews. Apparently Saudi Arabia (perhaps shamed by older MEMRI clips) also came out against similar hate in mosques.

Reports about the MEMRI story have been published throughout the Arabic-language media.

Prominent Egyptian cleric issues fatwa to ban Jews from holy sites in Muslim countries

Dr. Abdul Hamid al-Atrash, the head of the Fatwa Committee of Al Azhar in Egypt, has issued a ruling that Arabs may ban Jews from visiting their holy sites in Arab lands.

He was asked the question by the El Balad newspaper.

Al-Atrash says that as long as Muslims cannot travel to Jerusalem while it is in Jewish hands, then Muslims have the right to bar Jews from visiting their own holy places, under the Islamic concept of "reciprocity." Therefore, he says, Egyptian authorities have the right to ban Jews from going to the Alexandria synagogue on Rosh Hashanah.

He backed up his opinion with a Koranic verse, "Glory be to Allah, His Prophet and the believers, but the hypocrites know not." Also, he used a Hadith that says "Who allowed himself to be humiliated is not one of us," a saying that explains a lot. Apparently, Jews visiting Jewish holy sites is a humiliation for Muslims.

It is worth mentioning that there is nothing stopping most Muslims from visiting Jerusalem, via Jordan. A few months ago the Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, visited the Al Aqsa Mosque, and no Israeli stopped him. The only people upset over this were Muslims, including the Mufti of Jerusalem who declared it to be forbidden for Muslims to visit the city.

Two years ago, influential Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, likewise issued a fatwa against Muslims visiting Jerusalem.

So it is the Muslims who are banning Muslims from visiting holy sites in Israel- not Jews. If Israel doesn't believe that the visitor is a potential threat, he or she can come and visit anytime.

That sort of ruins the logic of the fatwa.

However, I have a feeling that the method of coming to that ruiing was not quite as rigorous and objective as legal rulings are supposed to be. It is almost like he knew what he would rule and only found textual "proofs" afterwards.

Qaradawi calls for holy war to destroy Israel

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the influential preacher based out of Yemen whose sermons are seen by tens of millions of people, once again has called for Muslims and Arabs to rise up and destroy Israel.

In his sermon last Friday, Qaradawi called on all Arabs and Muslims to be "fighters and mujahadeen" and exhorted them not to accept the "humiliation and disgrace" of Israel.

He said that the Muslims will be victorious and Israelis will go back to "the lands they came from." He added that Muslims are lying in wait for that day to happen.

He further said that the Jews support Israel and it is necessary for the Muslims to similarly support the destruction of Israel.

Qaradawi is often portrayed as "moderate" by Western media.

Egyptian Mufti visits Jerusalem, causes controversy

From AFP:

Egypt's grand mufti visited Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, a senior Muslim official said, despite claims by an internationally prominent cleric that such visits are a sop to Israel.

Azzam al-Khatib said Ali Gomaa, Egypt's highest religious authority, "came for a religious visit to Al-Aqsa mosque" along with Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed, King Abdullah II's cousin and advisor on religious issues.

It comes after Qatar-based Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian, said in a religious edict (fatwa) last month that Muslims should not visit Jerusalem "because it requires dealing with Zionist embassies to obtain visas."

"Such visits might also give legitimacy to the occupation and could be seen as normalisation," Qaradawi said in March.

His fatwa has drawn the ire of Palestinian awqaf minister Mahmud al-Habbash, saying it was "weird and contradicts the Koran and the Prophet's teachings."

"The fatwa serves Israeli policies that seek to isolate Jerusalem and Palestinians, who should be supported," Habbash said.

Earlier this month, the king's half-brother, Prince Hashim, paid a similar visit to Jerusalem. Also, Jordan's Interior Minister Mohammad Raud went to the Holy City this week.

The kingdom's powerful opposition Islamists have denounced such visits.

"In line with Islamic edicts issued by respected clerics and consultations with Christian religious leaders, we consider these trips as acts of normalisation that serves the schemes of the enemy," said Hamzeh Mansur, chief of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, on the party's website.

"Mosque preachers, thinkers, intellectuals and journalists should intensify their efforts to warn the public against the dangerous risks behind such visits, which must not continue," added Mansur, who also heads an anti-normalisation committee.

There has been much opposition to any such trips within the Muslim world. for example, two years ago an Egyptian soccer team canceled their planned visit to play a friendly game against Palestinian Arabs.

Gomaa, however, seems to have avoided the biggest problem from the Muslim perspective. He came through Jordan and went with Jordanian authorities under cover of calling it a diplomatic mission, avoiding any contact with Israeli authorities altogether. Even so, the Mufti is receiving a lot of criticism in Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and others.

Last year Gomaa threatened Israel saying that if the country continues to disregard the feelings of all the Muslims, it would feel the wrath of 1.5 billion people.

Meanwhile, here's a new MEMRI video of an Egyptian TV host slamming the Copts who visited Jerusalem earlier this month.

Islamists make a political play for Syria

While the Western world watches the horrific daily massacres in Syria without the slightest shred of strategy or planning, the Islamists are twelve steps ahead in their quest to take over the country.

If there is anything we have learned in the past year (let alone the last couple of decades) it is that any Middle East power vacuum will be filled with Islamists, ready to provide social services and a heaping spoonful of Muslim supremacism.

Over the weekend, there were a series of bomb blasts against Syrian targets, killing scores of civilians, that the opposition denied setting off. Some believe that Islamist groups are behind the blasts. Chaos favors the Islamists, and they also happen to be experts on car bombs.

Today, popular extremist preacher Youssef Qaradawi demanded that all Arab countries unite against Iran and Hezbollah, ostensibly because of their support for the Assad regime.

Qaradawi spoke directly to the Syrian people, saying that all (Sunni Muslim) Arab countries are in solidarity with Syria and will not let them down. He called on the Syrian resistance to be strong and to unite to bring down the regime.

While it is possible that some Syrians would be skeptical, the fact is that Qaradawi is the only one speaking to the masses in simple language showing support. Western leaders certainly aren't doing that in a way that Syrians could hear them. He, and other Islamists, are laying the groundwork for the day after, the same way they did in Tunisia and Egypt, while Western nations are giving mixed messages.

Whether the Syrian revolution lasts months or years, eventually Assad will fall -and only the Islamists are planning for that day now.

Arab Insult News

From Al Arabiya:

The Arab League chief, Nabil al-Araby, has said comments made by a Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson in Egypt against the United Arab Emirates were “hostile,” in a statement issued by his office on Monday.

The Brotherhood spokesman, Mahmoud Ghozlan, had threatened action against the UAE if the Gulf country would attempt to capture and prosecute prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

The Sheikh had sparked a heated row between the UAE and his Brotherhood supporters when he criticized the Gulf state for reportedly revoking the visas of Syrians who protested against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad outside of the Syrian consulate in Dubai.

Qaradawi’s comments provoked a heated response from the Dubai police chief, Dhahi Khalfan, who threatened to arrest the Sheikh.

“We are going to issue an arrest warrant against Sheikh Qaradawi” Khalfan wrote on his Twitter account earlier this week.

“If he insults the UAE will we leave him? ...Whoever insults the state or the government of the UAE, I will pursue him,” the police chief added.

In response to the Muslim Brotherhood’s retaliated threat of action against the UAE, Egyptian media cited Araby as saying on Monday: “I call on all political forces to resort to wisdom and prudence and to avoid hostile attitudes and irresponsible statements that can be detrimental to relations between Arab countries, and that cause dissension and division.”

The Arab League chief added: “We are about to prepare for the coming Arab summit in Baghdad, which we hope would restore the spirit of Arab solidarity and unify Arab positions on the challenges and major variables facing the region.”

And, yes, insulting the government can land you in jail, even in "moderate" Arab states:

Jordanian military prosecutors have charged six activists with insulting King Abdullah II during a demonstration in the southern city of Tafileh last week, a judicial official said on Tuesday.

"Twenty-one have been arrested following the demonstration. State security court prosecutors have charged all of them with rioting and six of insulting the king," the official told AFP.

If convicted, the six suspects face three years in prison each.

You see, that's why we need the Arab Spring. Instead of getting thrown in jail for three years for insulting the king, you can face the death penalty for insulting Mohammed. It's so much less barbaric.

Speaking of, it looks like the Saudi who tweeted messages meant to treat Mohammed like a human being - and who was charged with apostasy as a result - may get a light sentence, due to pressure from human rights activists and an abject, groveling apology he made in court:

An apostate Saudi journalist who is believed to be facing execution for insulting Prophet Mohammed PBUH (Peace Be Upon Him) has repented at court and this means reduced sentence.

According to the Arabic language daily Sharq, Hamza Kashgari declared his repentance before the judge at the court in Riyadh.

“Kashgari declared his repentance and expressed regret for offending the Prophet (PBUH)….this means he will face a light sentence,” the paper said, citing Kashgari relatives.

The 23-year-old man, who works for Albilad Arabic language daily, fled to Malaysia last month after King Abdullah ordered his arrest on charges of apostasy in an article he wrote on Twitter. A few days later, he was deported to the Kingdom and arrested on arrival.

Speculation mounted after his arrest that Kashgari could be executed following statements by a senior Saudi Muslim cleric that the writer would be sentenced to death for apostasy.

Sheikh Saleh bin Fowzan Al Fowzan, a member of the 7-man supreme committee of scholars in Saudi Arabia, said it has been established in Islam that any one who insults God or the Prophet should be killed.

“Repenting will not work…any man who insults God or our Prophet (PBUH) should be killed,” he said. “But we should first verify that this man (Kashgari) did insult Prophet Mohammed in his article on Twitter…if verified, then he must be killed……many scholars and people are now demanding his execution.”

In an official statement, Kashghari announced that he had repented and asked for forgiveness. "I admit that my ideas and words were deviant. Some doubts had affected my thinking and drove me away from the correct path," he said.

He said he had completely abandoned all his wrong ideas and the tweets he wrote, saying he was depressed at the time.

Kashghari thanked family, relatives, friends and scholars who supported him and tried to guide him to the correct religious path.

Just so you know the rule: make sure you never, ever insult Islam, orArab leaders, or any sheikhs, or Mohammed, or any other prophets, or the Quran, or Allah. Judaism and Christianity and "non-divine religions" and Western leaders are fair game, though.