Four Israels Part III: The Islamic view of Israel (in quotes).

Part three in this series of four will take a slightly different approach than the others.  Rather than trying to construct an Islamic view of Israel based on an investigative analysis of history, this writing will simply let those in the Arab/Islamic community give their view of Israel in their own words.  An attempt has been made to share an objective collection (i.e., both positive and negative perceptions) of quotes from leaders in the Arab community.   It is important to note that Islam is the predominate religion in the Arab countries surrounding Israel.  In fact, most reports put the percentage of Muslim Arabs at around 90% or above.  So for the sake of this discourse, when we speak of the Islamic view of Israel we are also essentially referring to the Arab view of Israel.  They are more often than not one and the same.  Likewise, when an Arab speaks about Jews they are essentially speaking about the whole of Israel as well.

First the negative:

“They [the Jews] try to kill the principle of religions with the same mentality that they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Mohammed.”

— Syrian President Bashar Assad at May 5 welcoming ceremony for the Pope Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, May 6, 2001

“The Jews are Jews, whether Labour or Likud, the Jews are Jews. They do not have any moderates or any advocates of peace. They are all liars. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed. As Allah the Almighty said: ‘Fight them.’ Allah will torture them by your hands and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers. … Our people must unite in one trench, and receive armaments from the Palestinian leadership to confront the Jews. … Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Whenever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them — and those who stand with them — they are all in one trench, against the Arabs and the Muslims — because they established Israel here, in the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine. They created it in order that it be the outpost of their civilization — and the vanguard of their army, and to be the sword of the West and the Crusaders, hanging over the necks of the Muslim monotheists, the Muslims in this land. They wanted the Jews to be the spearhead for them…”

— Dr Ahmad Abu-Halabia, a member of the “Fatwa Council”
appointed by the Palestinian Authority and the
former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza,
delivered in the Zayd bin Sultan Nahyan mosque in Gaza
on October 13, 2000, the day after the lynching of the Israeli
reservists in Ramallah, and carried live on Palestinian television

“They succeeded in gaining control in most of the [world’s] most powerful states, and they — a tiny community — became a world power. But 1.3 billion Muslims must not be defeated by a few million Jews. A way must be found….The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews are in control of the world via their proxies. They lead others to fight and die for them….If we are weak, no one will support us. The Israelis respect only the strong, and we must therefore all unite.”

— Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammad
at the opening of the Organization of Islamic States summit
October 16, 2003

“With the establishment of the State of Israel, the entire Muslim nation was lost because Israel is a cancer that spread in the body of the Islamic nation; because the Jews are a virus similar to AIDS, from which the entire world is suffering.”

— Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris
PA TV sermon, May 13, 2005

“…Lies surfaced about Jews being murdered here and there, and the Holocaust. And, of course, they are all lies and unfounded claims. No Chelmno, no Dachau, no Auschwitz! [They] were disinfection sites… They began to publicize in their propaganda that they were persecuted, murdered and exterminated… Committees acted here and there to establish this entity [Israel-Ed.], this foreign entity, implanted as a cancer in our country, where our fathers lived, where we live, and where our children after us will live. They always portrayed themselves as victims, and they made a Center for Heroism and Holocaust. Whose heroism? Whose Holocaust? Heroism is our nation’s, the holocaust was against our people… We were the victims, but we shall not remain victims forever…” [emphasis added]

— Dr. Issam Sissalem, history lecturer, Islamic University Gaza,
PA TV broadcast, November 29, 2000

“I promise that the number of shootings at the occupation will increase to 500 to 1,000 shooting [incidents] per day….The Palestinians have trained themselves to attack the Israeli tanks and explode their bodies that will be loaded with a belt of explosives, as part of the preparations for a possible Israeli attack in the Palestinian territories….The current intifada differs from the previous one because it is armed and the Palestinians are fighting inside their territory and from it.”

— Deputy Commander of Force-17, Muhammad Dhamrah (a.k.a., Abu Awdh),
Al-Hayat, August 17, 2001

“With God´s help, next time we will meet in Jerusalem, because we are fighting to bring victory to our prophets, every baby, every kid, every man, every woman and every old person and all the young people, we will all sacrifice ourselves for our holy places and we will strengthen our hold of them and we are willing to give 70 of our martyrs for every one of theirs in this campaign, because this is our holy land. We will continue to fight for this blessed land and I call on you to stand strong..”

— Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat,
speech at a rally in Ramallah, December 18, 2001

 

“Israel must be wiped off the map.”
— Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President, 2005

There was no challenge in finding the above quotes.  Countless more are easy to find that follow along the same sentiments by many if not all of the prominent Arab leaders of the world.  In contrast, I have literally spent hours over the course of many days trying to find positive sentiments from Arab leaders regarding Israel.  I did not find one.  I’m not saying they don’t exist.  I’m one hundred percent confident that there have been Arab leaders that have gone on record praising Israel, but I just could not find any.  I wanted to find numerous quotes affirming positive relations between the Arab states and Israel – my objectivity was compromised in the pursuit of finding just that.  However, no matter my intent, I could not come up with one positive affirmation from an Arab leader regarding Israel.  Therefore, knowing that these quotes must exist, I am making a promise to include any legitimate quote that anyone sends to me.  I will amend this blog until a fair amount of these quotes have been included.  The only criteria is that the quotes must be legitimate and verifiable.  They must be from Arab leaders or those closely associated with organizations that are known to be directly involved with the Palestinian – Israeli conflict. Please note that although Iran is not an Arab country, the quote from the Iranian president was included because over 99% of Iranians claim to be Muslim.

As we wait on the harder to find positive affirmations of Israel from Arab leaders to be found, the obvious must be stated.  Many prominent Arab leaders unabashedly condemn and threaten Israel year after year after year.  Arab leaders don’t hide their harsh and hate filled comments, but rather laud them over the air waves via television and in print through various media outlets.  The Islamic/Arab view of Israel is overwhelmingly negative, hate filled, and anything but peaceful.  But one need not struggle to do a content analysis of the quoted sentiments from prominent  Arab leaders.  Simply reread them.  Go on the internet and find more.  Read books, magazines, and newspapers.  The content is there for all to see. Make the analysis your own.