The principal Palestinian Authority’s religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, speaking last week, presented the killing of Jews by Muslims as a religious Islamic goal.
Hussein made the comments at an event celebrating the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, which is headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. He cited the Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) saying that “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.’”
The event was broadcast on PA TV, translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute and presented on its website.
The moderator who introduced the Mufti at the Fatah event reiterated another Islamic belief: that the Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs.
“Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith,” the moderator said.
The Mufti did not distance himself from the hate statement that Islam is in a religious war with the Jews, but added to it that Islam’s goal is to kill Jews.
PMW noted that this is not the first time the Mufti has incited to hatred against Jews in the name of Islam. In a sermon at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2010, for example, he preached that the Jews are the “enemies of Allah.”
The Mufti is appointed by none other than Abbas himself, who also heads the Fatah movement, PMW said.
