Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Abbas Applauds Call For Jihadists To Go And Fight In Jerusalem
Abbas Applauds Call For Jihadists To Go And Fight In Jerusalem
January 14, 2014
Abbas applauds
after Minister calls
for Jihad in Jerusalem
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Jihadi fighters should not be fighting in Syria but should go to Jerusalem. This was the message of PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, in front of Mahmoud Abbas:
"Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear... Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address."
Al-Habbash was criticizing those who have sent Jihadi fighters from around the world to Syria to fight against Assad's forces. The Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk has been the scene of some of this fighting. Abbas, who was in the audience, applauded when Al-Habbash said that Jihadi fighters should not be sent to Syria but to Jerusalem.
A large sign on stage announced that the event was under the auspices of Abbas.
PMW recently reported that in another speech, where Abbas was also present, Al-Habbash said that the PA's negotiations with Israel are modeled after the Hudaybiyyah agreement between Islam's Prophet Muhammad and the tribes of Mecca. He explained that Muhammad signed a 10-year truce, yet two years later conquered Mecca.
The following is an excerpt from the speech by PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash:
"There is a message we must convey to those who kidnapped the Yarmouk [Palestinian] refugee camp [in Syria] with baseless false slogans, pretexts, and excuses. We say to them: 'The [place for] resistance and Jihad is not the Yarmouk refugee camp. Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear. Everyone knows it. I don't think that there is anyone who doesn't know where Jihad is supposed to take place. [applause from the audience] I don't think that there is anyone who doesn't know to where we should direct efforts or where to concentrate the masses. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know this. Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address. [Abbas and audience applaud.] A compass that does not point to Jerusalem, Muhammad has nothing to do with it. Put an end to your ignorance, and recognize that you [those fighting in Syria] are nothing more than small tools in a game [controlled by] malicious hands that are running a filthy game to crush the Ummah (Islamic Nation) and diminish it, and deflect the compass away from its true direction." [Official Palestinian Authority TV Live, Jan. 13, 2014]
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