Palestinian Cleric: ISIS ‘Must Conquer Rome, Washington and Paris’

In a lecture delivered at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Palestinian Arab cleric Sheikh Abu Taqi al-Din al-Dari said the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or IS) “must conquer Rome, Washington and Paris” for “the sake of Allah.”

According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an organization that translates Arab and Iranian media, al-Dari’s exhortations were posted on the Internet on Jan. 16, 2016.

In that posting, al-Dari said:

“Nowadays, power means shooting – the shooting of shells, missiles, and so on. With regard to the natural and original battles of the Muslims, (we say that) the relationship of the Abode of Islam with the abodes of the infidels is one of war. Therefore, the Islamic state must prepare and then act to annex those countries (to the Abode of Islam), and to impose its control and authority over those countries. If the (infidel) authorities and regimes refuse to allow the Islamic state to impose the rule and order of Islam over their countries, they must pay the jizya poll tax [a tax that some non-Muslims living under an Islamic state must pay]. If they refuse that too, they should be fought for the sake of Allah.”

The “basic principle” the Palestinian cleric said, “is that the Islamic state should work to conquer the world through jihad for the sake of Allah.”

CAMERA has noted other instances of incitement by Palestinian Arab religious officials—many of which have occurred at the al-Aqsa mosque often described as Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. For example, on Oct. 24, 2015 a Palestinian cleric named Abu Ahmad called for the restoration of an Islamic caliphate and the destruction of “the Jews, the Americans and the Russians (“Palestinian Cleric: Restore the Caliphate and Murder the Jews,” Nov. 5, 2015).”

The grand mufti (religious figure) of Jerusalem has even delivered sermons at the al-Aqsa mosque supporting the terrorist tactic of suicide bombings (“Terminate Wakf Authority Over the Temple Mount,” The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 26, 2015).

The Waqf (religious authority) oversees the al-Aqsa mosque and the Palestinian Authority (PA) appoints its grand mufti. The mosque is located on Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount.

Since September 2015, violent attacks against Israelis have followed the PA-propagated libel that Israel planned to destroy al-Aqsa—a tactic Palestinian leaders have used to encourage anti-Jewish violence in 1929, 1996 and 2000 among other instances, as CAMERA has noted (“Incitement over Temple Mount Leads to Palestinian Violence, Again,” Sept. 16, 2015).

In November 2015 the PA rejected a proposal from Israel and Jordan for 24-hour surveillance of the Temple Mount—despite the fact that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has used Western worries over rising ISIS support in the West Bank to maintain support for himself as the only alternative (“Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on The Temple Mount,” The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 3, 2015.

Is Abbas worried that the videos would not only prove the PA promoted “al-Aqsa is endangered” libel to be a lie, but also that anti-Jewish and anti-Western sermons and actions would be displayed for the world to see? Yet, given the lack of coverage of the exhortations by Palestinian Arab clerics, perhaps such concerns would be overblown.