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 feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at feldman@forward.com. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO