California Imam Slammed For ‘Annihilate The Jews’ Sermon On Jerusalem
Imam Ammar Shahin, of the Islamic Center of Davis, CA. Image by YouTube
By Ari Feldman July 26, 2017
A California imam is being accused of anti-Semitism after a video of a July 21 sermon in which he called for a war between Jews and Muslims was published on YouTube. Imam Ammar Shahin’s sermon at the Islamic Center of Davis, in Davis, Cali., was in response to the Israeli government’s placement of metal detectors at the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Shahin quoted an apocalyptic hadith, or oral tradition, envisioning a final war between Muslims and Jews. Shahin called for Allah to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews” and “annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.”
Shahin’s sermon has been heavily criticized.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein, directors of the Simon Wiesenthal center, called for an investigation of Shahin.
The mosque said it doesn’t condone Jew-hatred.
“We have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or any other form of bigotry,” the Islamic Center of Davis said in a statement.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
