Tag Archives: Middle East Media Research Institute

U. K. House of Commons questions YouTube over keeping terrorism-promoting videos active

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The Al-Zawahiri video posted April 6, 2013.

The Al-Zawahiri video posted April 6, 2013.

Of 125 Videos Of Al-Qaeda Commander Al-Zawahiri Flagged On YouTube By MEMRI, YouTube Keeps 57 Active

MEMRI:

Jihadi Videos On YouTube

Over the past three years, and based on research by the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) project, we have determined that YouTube has emerged as the leading website for online jihad. It has replaced – and surpassed – websites administered by jihadis themselves, which were previously the leaders in online jihadi efforts. During this time, we have offered our assistance to YouTube in identifying videos that incite violence and terrorist acts for possible removal.

The most recent example of this is a video of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, released on multiple YouTube pages on April 6, 2013, and also released simultaneously on jihadi websites. In the video, Al-Zawahiri calls upon viewers to “exert every effort to make [Syria] a jihad-fighting Islamic state” that will be a step towards “restoring the rightly-guided caliphate.” Addressing the Muslims in these countries, he urged them to support the mujahideen, and expressed his particular hope that the French forces in Mali would face the same difficulties as the U.S. faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. The video, as posted by user “arslan ifriki,” had almost 17,000 views on the first day; viewers were also given links to other users’ postings of the same video.

As documented by previous MEMRI reports, MEMRI met with Google Inc. and YouTube representatives to discuss the issue of jihadi videos. YouTube then committed to introducing a flagging system whereby users could flag videos to alert YouTube that they included content that “promotes terrorism.” Following the introduction of this system, MEMRI flagged jihadi YouTube videos of Osama bin Laden and 9/11-glorification videos, as well as videos by and of the late Yemeni-American Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki, the influential jihadi cleric and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader. Of the former, 58 of 100 remained active even after MEMRI’s flagging; of the latter, 111 out of 127 remained active.

Not only has MEMRI identified YouTube as one of the main jihadi vehicles, but this subject is of great concern to counterterrorism experts worldwide. In the U.K., jihadi and terrorist videos on YouTube is so great a problem that it was the focus of a recent inquiry by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.

Read more at MEMRI

PA Continues to Advocate for Israel’s Destruction

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Palestinians-rip-an-American-flag-during-a-protest-against-the-visit-of-the-U.S.-President-Barack-Obama-AP

Palestinians rip an American flag during a protest against the visit of President Barack Obama / AP

by IPT News  •  Mar 20, 2013 at 6:14 pm

Calls for liberating “Palestine” have been reverberating among the various Palestinian political factions for decades.

Hamas actively pursues Israel’s destruction, but how does the Palestinian Authority (PA) differ from the terrorist organization?

A recent Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report highlights the PA’s continued efforts to propagate the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return” within Israel. This narrative is perpetuated at the core of PA schools and is clearly disseminated throughout history, civics, and Arabic language textbooks. For example, MEMRI points to a fourth grade textbook, which says, “Four and a half million Palestinians live in the diaspora outside Palestine… Most are refugees waiting to return to the motherland, from which they were expelled.”

Other examples start as early as second grade and run throughout primary school textbooks. By subjecting children to continuous propaganda regarding an eventual “return” to Israeli cities like Haifa and Jaffa, the PA is clearly indoctrinating future generations on the virtues of a one-state solution. In that scenario, Palestinians would outnumber Israelis stripping Jews of a homeland.

This tactic is part of the broader strategy of subjugating younger generations of Palestinians to propaganda that glorifies terrorists and advocates for violent jihad for the purposes of destroying the Jewish state.

The Palestinian culture of death has been exposed in various forms throughout the years. Among the more notorious examples was a children’s television program that featured a Mickey Mouse knockoff calling for martyrdom and violence against Jews. Moreover, MEMRI reports that the PA continues to praise terrorists such as Dalal Al-Mughrabi, commemorating the anniversary of a terrorist attack which killed 35 Israelis and injured dozens of civilians. Former and current PA officials continue to glorify such atrocities, describing Mughrabi as an inspirational figure and role model.

Furthermore, PA President Mahmoud Abbas recently claimed that there is “no difference between [the PA's] policies and those of Hamas.” Based on the PA’s educational curriculum, media dissemination, and terrorist glorification, the international community must look behind the PA’s doublespeak before pressuring Israel to make further concessions.

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NY Times Avoids Linking Morsi’s Anti-Semitism to Muslim Brotherhood Ideology

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by IPT:

After touting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood colleagues as moderates, both the New York Times and the Obama administration were shocked into acknowledging a vastly different reality this week.

Each condemned comments Morsi made in a 2010 interview, recently unearthed and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Zionists, Morsi said, are “blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.”

The vision of a peaceful, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “an illusion,” he said.

“Therefore, these negotiations must stop once and for all. Everybody must turn to the support of the resistance, which is the option chosen by the Palestinians and by us all – the Arabs and the Muslims, Palestinians and others. We must all realize that resistance is the only way to liberate the land of Palestine.”

MEMRI posted the video and its translation January 4, but it generated little attention until writers Richard Behar and Jeffrey Goldberg called attention to it. “Surely, if the president of virtually any other country in the world had defamed an entire people in such a way — only a couple years before they got the top job, to boot — it would have at least gotten a few column-inches,” Behar wrote. “Yet Morsi gets a free pass.”

The Times published a story Monday by Cairo Bureau Chief David Kirkpatrick and an editorial Wednesday criticizing the statements. But in both cases, the newspaper failed to show that Morsi’s views were no aberration. Rather, they are part of a continuum of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel incitement that dates back to the organization’s original ideologues.

The information is in the Times‘ own archives, but apparently nobody looked. Instead, the editorial weakly aimed for a context to explain Morsi’s hate speech away, and threw in outrageous moral relativism. “The problem goes deeper than just Mr. Morsi, however. The remarks were made at a time when anti-Israel sentiment was running high in Egypt and the region after the three-week Gaza conflict in 2009 between Israel and Hamas,” the Times editorial said. “The sad truth is that defaming Jews is an all too standard feature of Egyptian, and Arab, discourse; Israelis are not immune to responding in kind either.”

Well, no on both counts. Casting Morsi’s statements somehow as a reaction to Israel’s 2009 war with Gaza ignores the fact that Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders routinely offer conspiracies blaming Jews for Egypt’s problems. They call for jihad to liberate Palestine in times of peace and times of turmoil. And no Israeli leader, or state-sanctioned media, has come close to responding in-kind.

To his credit, Kirkpatrick’s story identifies a second 2010 video in which Morsi urges Muslims “to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews…”

But the article fails to show the deeper context. This kind of speech is nothing new for the Muslim Brotherhood. Sayyid Qutb, one of the group’s luminaries, even wrote a book called “Our Battle with the Jews.” He cited the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and blamed Jews for Muslim problems.

“From such creatures who kill, massacre and defame prophets one can only expect the spilling of human blood and dirty means which would further their machinations and evilness,” he wrote.

Examples in the Times‘ own news archive and in other outlets show that Morsi and fellow Muslim Brotherhood leaders adhere to Qutb’s anti-Semitism, which is, and always has been, a hallmark of the Brotherhood’s ideology.

Read more at IPT

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Palestinian President Abbas Praises Dead Terrorists As ‘Martyrs’

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Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority

Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority

IPT:

by John Rossomando

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is viewed in the West as a moderate relative to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups. But that may be because Western media ignore incendiary rhetoric Abbas routinely makes in Arabic.

An example came earlier this month, when Abbas praised a litany of deceased Palestinian terrorists as martyrs. That includes Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shikaki and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine founder George Habash. Abbas named each during a January 4 rally for Palestinian unity in Gaza. The rally took place on the eve of Egyptian-sponsored unity negotiations with Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal in Cairo.

“We must remember the pioneers, the Grand Mufti of Palestine Hajj Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini as well as Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, the founder of the PLO,” Abbas said in a translation of the speech made by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Al-Husseini was a close ally of Adolf Hitler who instigated terror attacks against Jews and moderate Palestinians in pre-World War II Palestine. He also helped organize a Muslim SS division and was complicit in the Holocaust, preventing the rescue of 19,000 Jewish children.

“The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of the freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers,” Al-Husseini wrote during World War II.

The State Department declined to comment when asked about these statements by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

“Saying such things is a form of incitement,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “We are seeing rhetoric in camps that were previously seen as moderate, and it is rhetoric heading in the wrong direction.”

It is a direct response of the populism that followed the Arab Spring.

The rhetoric also stands in stark contrast with what Abbas said in November when he pledged there would no Third Intifada on his watch. “As long as I’m sitting here, in this position, I will not allow an intifada. We will act only through diplomatic and peaceful means,” he said.

Such rhetoric has been matched to Israel’s south by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi who called the Israelis “the descendants of apes and pigs” in 2010 when he said the “Zionists” needed to give the Palestinians everything they want or face war.

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was struck by the lack of attention those comments, which were only recently translated and released by MEMRI, garnered in the West. “One possibility is, to borrow a phrase, the soft bigotry of low expectations,” he wrote. “Another: Anti-Semites have done such a thorough job of convincing the media that anti-Semitism doesn’t exist that when it does pop up it causes a paralyzing form of cognitive dissonance.”

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The Real Mohamed Morsi

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mor-450x337

By Arnold Ahlert

A video disseminated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) should blow a giant hole in the fantasy the Obama administration refers to as their Muslim “outreach” initiative. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is shown in 2010 delivering an anti-Semitic diatribe, during which he referred to “the Zionists” as “bloodsuckers,” “warmongers,” and “the descendants of apes and pigs.” He also called for “military resistance within the land of Palestine,” further noting that the PLO “was created by the Zionist and American enemies.”

The tape is a compilation of excerpts from two different interviews given by Morsi on March 20 and September 23 in 2010. MEMRI discovered the footage, translated it, and combined it into the aforementioned video. Morsi was a member of the Guidance Office of the Muslim Brotherhood when he delivered the remarks. “The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine,” he said March 20. “There is no place for them on the land of Palestine. What they took before 1947-8 constitutes plundering, and what they are doing now is a continuation of this plundering. By no means do we recognize their Green Line. The land of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, not to the Zionists.”

He was sure to include the United States in the mix as well. “We must confront this Zionist entity. All ties of all kinds must be severed with this plundering criminal entity, which is supported by America and its weapons, as well as by its own nuclear weapons, the existence of which is well known. It will bring about their own destruction. The peoples must boycott this entity and avoid normalization of relations with it. All products from countries supporting this entity–from the U.S. and others–must be boycotted.”

Such a boycott must be quite selective. Beginning January 22, Egypt is scheduled to receive the first installment of 10 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks from the United States as part of a $213 million foreign aid package originally promised to former president Hosni Mubarak. Morsi hasn’t cancelled it. Neither has the Obama administration, despite Mubarak’s ouster. Such seeming indifference by Obama has engendered increasing criticism, with the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) circulating a petition that has garnered more than 150,000 signatures. “A Shariah dictatorship on Israel’s border–armed with American weapons–is a deadly threat to Israel and America,” it reads. “All U.S. funding to Egypt must be cut off until we can certify that aid to Egypt will help the national security interests of the United States and Israel.”

Read more at Front Page

Sign ——-> Petition to Stop Funding Radical Middle East Nations

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In Newly Published Interview Morsi Refers to Jews as “The Descendants of Apes and Pigs” (VIDEO)

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morsiUN-300x170In two separate  2010 interviews with Al-Quds TV in Lebanon, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi makes disparaging remarks about Jews and dismisses peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. In one interview, dated September 23, Morsi refers to Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs.” During the interview, which was released by The Middle East Research Institute’s (MEMRI) today, Morsi also declares that peace negotiations are futile and promotes the use of force. “There should be military resistance within the land of Palestine against  those criminal Zionists, who attack Palestine and the Palestinians,” he says.

In another interview, dated March 20th, Morsi continues to promote the use of force against Israel. “We must all realize that resistance is the only way to liberate the land of Palestine,” he says. Then he dismisses Israel’s right to exist. “The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine. There is no place for them on the land of Palestine.”

Full Transcript (provided by MEMRI):

Mohamed Morsi: These futile [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations  are a waste of time and opportunities. The Zionists buy time and gain  more opportunities, as the Palestinians, the Arabs, and the Muslims lose  time and opportunities, and they get nothing out of it. We can see how  this dream has dissipated. This dream has always been an illusion. Yet  some Palestinians, who erroneously believe that their enemies might give  them something… This [Palestinian] Authority was created by the  Zionist and American enemies for the sole purpose of opposing the will  of the Palestinian people and its interests.

[...]

No reasonable person can expect any progress on this track. Either  [you accept] the Zionists and everything they want, or else it is war.  This is what these occupiers of the land of Palestine know – these  blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the  descendants of apes and pigs.

Read more at algemeiner

Watch the video of Morsi’s remarks below:

 

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CAIR’s Nihad Awad: “US and Islam Are Twins”

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imagesCAVT2NBRMEMRI: CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad: “Islam and the U.S. Are Twins, Linked by Common Values, There Are Accounts that Muslims Discovered America before Columbus”
Iqra TV (Saudi Arabia) – December 27, 2012

Transcript excerpts:

Interviewer: Once again, I greet you from the USA, and specially, from New York. Today’s topic is the American Islamic organizations.

Nihad Awad: In my view, Islam and the US are twins, linked by common values. The values on which the US was founded are the same values advocated by Islam: freedom, and especially freedom of religion, freedom of speech, protection of minorities, and spreading justice among all sectors of society.

[...]

The combination of my American nationality and the practice of my Islamic religion creates a beautiful blend, I believe. This is a civilized blend, which proves that Islam flourishes in an atmosphere of freedom, and spreads freedom, justice, and equality. Every day I live as an American-Muslim citizen, I rediscover the firm bonds between the humane system that the US created for its people, and the values advocated by Islam. This marriage of Islam and the US will be the best suited for humanity, because the Islamic values are divine values, conveyed by Allah. The Prophet Muhammad lived by these values, and Muslims today must rise to their level. The US is not perfect, but it is moving “toward a more perfect union.”

[...]

It is extremely important to know how Islam began in the US. There are historical accounts according to which the Muslims preceded Columbus, who is said to have discovered the US. Some documents and accounts indicate that Muslim seafarers were the first to reach the US. The bottom line is that Islam played a part in the establishment and development of the US.

[...]

Islam’s worldview is one of coexistence, of respect for pluralism, and of peace. Allah says in the Koran: “Oh Mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes so that you may know one another. The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the most pious among you.” This is a very important humane, social, and political principle. This is the principle of interacting with the other, be it nations, individuals, institutions, or countries. This verse was conveyed 1,400 years ago. This is a very important principle on how we should interact with others. As Muslims, we are not hostile to other societies. The underlying principle guiding our relations with them is one of respect for the natural differences between individuals, nations, and societies, but there are also common interests. Diversity in Islam is a good thing, not a shortcoming. Most of the wars waged between nations were the result of failure to respect and acknowledge the other.

[...]

When I said that Islam and the US are twins, I was referring to the values upon which the US was founded. I was talking about domestic affairs. US society consists of all of humanity – all the ethnicities, a society of immigrants. The US is the most diverse human union. How did the US manage to create this human fabric? This human experience was, undoubtedly, based on very important principles, which are identical to the Islamic values. The problem lies in the foreign policy. We are not talking about the foreign policy. I am one of the most adamant opponents of my country’s policy… Foreign policy is another matter altogether.

[...]

After 9/11, we saw great interest among the American public in becoming better acquainted with Islam by studying and reading about it. We found that very few books on Islam were available in the public libraries, which are frequented by many Americans, and that most of these books were misleading or anti-Islamic. Therefore, we decided to publish several books on Islam, written by Muslims and non-Muslims. We decided to send them free-of-charge to the American public libraries.

[...]

There are 16,200 public libraries in the US, serving 300 million Americans. We managed to provide this collection, free-of-charge, to half of these libraries.

[...]

With regard to our sister Aafia Siddiqui, this is undoubtedly a sensitive criminal case and a security issue.

Interviewer: Who is she?

Nihad Awad: Aafia Siddiqui is originally from Pakistan, as far as I know. She is incarcerated in the US, having received a long prison sentence, for her alleged involvement in – quote, unquote – “terrorist acts.” We are in CAIR are following this case, through our New York chapter. In 2013, in the coming weeks, we will dedicate more attention to her. We will follow the case, and see what we can do.

[...]

I personally intervened in this case, without talking about it in the media. I can reassure the brothers and sisters who called this show that I have personally dealt with this case on a high level in the US, and even in diplomatic circles. When we have any news, we will let you know.

See also:

CAIR Protests Saudi Radical’s Exclusion From U.S.

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MAS-ICNA annual conferenceIPT News

The head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) vows to complain to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials after they blocked a radical Saudi cleric from entering the country this week to attend a national Islamist conference in Chicago.

Sheikh Ayed al-Qarni was scheduled to speak twice during the Muslim American-Society (MAS)/Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) national convention Dec. 22-25. But a statement released during the convention expressed “the unpleasant and saddening news” that al-Qarni had been removed from his flight from Saudi Arabia despite having a visa from the U.S. embassy, and that he appears to be on the U.S. “no-fly list.” Al-Qarni is described as “one of our great speakers” and as someone known “for his logical discourse and balanced views, he promotes understanding and collaboration between all people, regardless of their faith, background, or language.”

Al-Qarni has advocated jihad in the past and his preaching on the subject has been described as influential among al-Qaida followers.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad told an Arabic news outlet that he would protest al-Qarni’s exclusion with DHS and State Department officials. “We defend all Muslims who are subject to arbitrary measure, and by this logic, we will act but not formally plead, unless we obtain authorization from him.”

It’s an ironic protest to make in light of a public relations campaign orchestrated by CAIR’s Chicago chapter. “MyJihad” aims to show non-Muslims that the term jihad is more about peaceful, personal attempts at overcoming challenges than about calls for violence and terror.

Through Awad, also a listed speaker at the convention, CAIR is fighting to bring a Saudi cleric into the United States who has argued the exact opposite message. During a 2005 sermon flagged by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), al-Qarni called the jihad against American forces in Fallujah ”a source of pride … downing their planes, destroying equipment, slaughtering them, taking them hostage, and proclaiming ‘Allah Akhbar’ from the mosques, and the worshippers and the preacher cursing them in their prayers, and then come others begging for forgiveness, and requesting a dialogue and a ceasefire and negotiations. Who can say even one word against this true Jihad against these colonialist occupiers?” [Emphasis added]

He belittled Muslims who failed to take action, including “harming the Jews.” He invoked Israel’s targeted killings of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, saying he prayed that Allah “will destroy the Jews and their helpers from among the Christians and the Communists, and that He will turn them into the Muslims’ spoils. I praise the Jihad, the sacrifice, and the resistance against the occupiers in Iraq. We curse them all of them every night and pray that Allah will annihilate them, tear them apart, and grant us victory over them…”

“Throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered,” al-Qarni said. “This is the path to victory, to shahada, and to sacrifice.”

This was no one-time rant.

Read more

Hosting Hate

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al manar tvBY:

A United States-based Internet company is currently hosting a propaganda website operated by the terror group Hezbollah, potentially in violation of a law meant to prevent Americans from providing material support to U.S.-designated terror groups.

The Missouri-based GSI Hosting is granting server space to Al Manar TV, which is owned and funded by Hezbollah, according to research provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The U.S. has cited Hezbollah and Al Manar as terrorist organizations, a designation that makes it illegal for anyone in America to “knowingly provide ‘material support or resources’” to the groups, according to the State Department.

The U.S., Canada, France, and several other countries have also banned Al Manar, rendering its current dealings with both U.S. and British companies even more problematic to observers.

Al Manar has been known to employ members of Hezbollah, which is committed to Israel’s destruction, and routinely broadcasts anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda.

GSI Hosting, which is owned by the Texas-based Layered Tech, was notified last month by MEMRI that it was hosting Al Manar’s website.

The site was subsequently removed on Nov. 26, but reappeared on the company’s servers on Dec. 6, according to MEMRI executive director Steven Stalinsky. Stalinsky has authored several reports detailing Al Manar’s emergence on both U.S. and United Kingdom-based Internet servers.

Two U.K.-based companies play host to Hezbollah’s website: Coreix and ServerSpace Ltd in addition to GSI hosting.

MEMRI has notified all of these companies that it could be violating the law by hosting the terror group’s website.

“It is one thing for a company not to know who’s on their servers, but after having a major terrorism organization on their servers and being notified it’s unacceptable it has happened again,” Stalinsky told the Free Beacon.

Layered Tech, GSI Hosting’s parent company, did not respond to a request for comment about its business dealings with Al Manar.

It was still hosting Al Manar’s website as of Monday.

Hezbollah prides itself on its sophisticated use of the Internet.

The web has become a near-unrestricted breeding ground for terrorist activities and Hezbollah has capitalized on this by disseminating terrorist propaganda and recruiting new operatives.

Hezbollah maintains Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook pages. It also has created applications that have been marketed by Apple and Google.

But the Al Manar site remains its chief propaganda front.

Read more at Free Beacon

Muslim Brotherhood calls for jihad to liberate “Palestine”

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Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi’

Jihad Watch:

And make no mistake — that jihad is coming. But even then the learned analysts who assured us in January 2011 that the “Arab Spring” was a flowering of democracy and pluralism will neither admit their mistake nor be called to account.

 

“Mursi: Recognition Of Peace Agreement With Israel – Conditional; MB Calls For Jihad To Liberate Palestine,” from MEMRI, July 23 (thanks to Lachlan):

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi’Throughout his campaign and also since his election, Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi has stated that he accepts the peace agreement with Israel. For example, in a meeting with newspaper editors following his election, he said that Egypt would honor the agreement,[1] and in his inauguration speech at Cairo University, he said that he carried a message of peace to the world, that he would uphold Egypt’s commitments as part of international treaties and conventions it has signed, and that “Egypt [would] never turn to a policy of aggression.”[2]

At the same time, Mursi is careful to qualify his statements and say that Egypt’s acceptance of the peace agreement depends on Israel’s honoring of this agreement – an assertion that is open to various interpretations. For example, in a televised interview before the elections, he said that Israel’s honoring the agreement meant making peace with all the peoples of the region, implementing the Palestinians’ right of return, and establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.[3] On another occasion, he said that Israel’s attack on Gaza constituted a violation of the peace agreement.[4]

These qualifications to the acceptance of the peace agreement with Israel might serve Mursi and the MB as a means of exerting pressure on Israel and the U.S., by demanding concessions in return for a continued honoring of the agreement on Egypt’s part.

Moreover, the MB apparently intends to maintain a division of labor between the president and the MB party and movement. Mursi adheres to protocol and international requirements in his policies and statements; moreover, he emphasizes that he does not represent the MB party or movement in his role as president, while the MB movement, on the other hand, is much blunter in its statements on Israel and adheres to its longstanding ideology. Thus, in his sermons in the recent weeks, MB General Guide Muhammad Badi’ has been taking a violent, hard-line stance and calling for jihad to rescue Palestine and Jerusalem.

The following are excerpts from some of his sermons:

Badi’: Every Muslim Must Wage Jihad To Rescue Palestine And Jerusalem

In his July 5, 2012 weekly sermon, Badi’ stated: “Every Muslim must act to save Jerusalem from the usurpers and to [liberate] Palestine from the claws of occupation. This is a personal duty for all Muslims. They must participate in jihad by [donating] money or [sacrificing] their life, in order to save [Palestine] and the men and women imprisoned [in Israeli jails], as well as [Jerusalem], the destination of the Prophet’s Night Journey and the first Qibla [direction of prayer] in [Islam], and in order to enable all those who were expelled to return to their homeland, their homes and their property…” Addressing all Muslims, Badi’ said: “Do not be ashamed to declare jihad for the sake of Allah, because your life and glory [depend on it], as well as the departure of the occupier from your country, the restoration of your holy sites, and the safety of your home…”[5]…

Read it all.