"Philadelphia Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab in a Series of Antisemitic Sermons: The Jews Are the Vilest People, Control Propaganda and Media; Israeli PM Begin Slit Open Belly of Pregnant Woman," MEMRI, November 16, 2018 to February 15, 2019:
Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab, who is of Egyptian origin, delivered several antisemitic sermons at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia, PA. On February 15, 2019, he said that the Jews are the vilest people in terms of their nature and moral values and that the "nefarious" Jewish media causes people to see Muslims as "oppressive and predatory lions." He said that the "enemies of Allah" are ordering heads of state to come to the Knesset, where they sit and "plot against their people, according to what the others want." Abouhatab then told his audience that in one of Israel's wars, former Israeli PM Menachem Begin had once made bets on whether a pregnant woman was carrying a boy or a girl before slitting her belly open to find out. Abouhatab added: "If faith had taken root in our hearts we would have imposed the word of Islam upon the world." On January 11, 2018, Imam Abouhatab said that the propaganda and media are controlled by the Jews, who make people think that "power lies with 15 million people who own and control the riches of the world." On November 16, 2018, Imam Abouhatab said that an Israeli prime minister had once been asked about the hadith about the rocks and the trees calling to Muslims to kill the Jews hiding behind them, and that he had answered: "The hadith is true, but we are doing our best to prevent this." The Al-Aqsa Islamic Society has been involved in many interfaith activities. It has hosted Philadelphia's Interfaith Peacewalk since 2003, and has a full-time private Islamic school called Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy. The sermons were streamed live on the mosque's YouTube channel. In October 2018, the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society posted to its Facebook page a condemnation of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which it called for people of faith to stand united in condemnation of the attack. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/03/philadelphia-muslim-cleric-says-the-jews-are-the-vilest-people
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MIM: The terror tied Al Aqsa Islamic Society issued this boilerplate statement on their website in a lame attempt at damage control.
A MESSAGE FROM AL AQSA ISLAMIC SOCIETY
March 8, 2019
Al Aqsa Islamic Society rejects anti-Semitism in any form. We are shocked and outraged to learn that one of our guest speakers said reprehensible anti-Jewish remarks on the floor of Al Aqsa. This in no way represents our beliefs or policies. We condemn this action and will make sure that this never happens again. We expect that all guest speakers will respect and uphold our policy that hatred against any group of people or religion will not be tolerated.
Chukri Khorchid Secretary, Board of Trustees, Al Aqsa Islamic Society
APOLOGY BY AL AQSA SOCIETY LEADERSHIP FOR ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS
A guest imam made anti-Jewish remarks which the leadership failed to recognize and condemn
Philadelphia, March 9, 2019: Al Aqsa Islamic Society has been recently criticized for sermons by a guest imam that contained anti-Jewish speech. We categorically denounce speech of this kind and apologize for not taking immediate corrective action. Al Aqsa rejects anti-Semitism in any form. It in no way represents our beliefs and policies, and is inconsistent with the interfaith work we have been doing for many years. As leaders of Al Aqsa Islamic Center, we pledge to be vigilant in ensuring that hate speech is neither heard nor tolerated in our mosque or community.
Chukri Khorchid, Secretary, Board of Trustees, Al Aqsa Islamic Society Imam Mohamad Shehata, Al Aqsa Islamic Society
This week some have accused me of racism and hatred towards Judaism. And some have used snippets from my sermons that were taken out of context to accuse me of anti-Semitism. I would like to clarify my position regarding what was said.
I often repeat the verses in Surat al-Mumtahina where Allah (Glory be to Him) Says: "Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly." (60:8)
This is what our religion preaches. I am not against any religion and what was attributed to me is completely false. I do not promote hate, nor do I insight violence. The religion of Islam calls me to living peacefully along-side others who share different faiths, and to never transgress against the rights of others, while always speaking the words of truth when need be and under the shade of the law.
I firmly stand by my right to express ideas, words, speech, opinion and thoughts as afforded to me and protected by the First amendment of the United States constitution. And I reject any campaign or attempt that depicts me as an extremist or a bigot.
And I conclude with verses that I recite in the beginning of every Jummah sermon: "O you who have believed, be conscious of Allah (God) and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment." (33:71-72)
Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab
.هذا الأسبوع أتهمني البعض بالعنصرية و الكراهية ضد الديانة اليهودية. وبعضهم أستخدم عبارات مجتزئة أخرجوها من سياقها من خطب لي و قاموا باتهامى بأني ضد السامية، و أحب أن أوضح موقفي من ما قيل
.هذا ديننا. أنا لست ضد أي طائفة أو ديانة و ما نسب إلى محض إفتراء. أنا لا أحرض على العنف والكراهية، و إنما دين الإسلام يدعونا إلى التعايش السلمي و عدم الإعتداء على حقوق الأخرين و (الصدع بالحق) في ظل القانون
.و أؤكدعلى احتفاظي بحق التعبير و إدلاء الرأي كما ينص و يؤمن الدستور و القانون. و أرفض أي حملة أو إتهام تصورنى بالتطرف أو العنصرية
(وأنهي كلامي بقول الله تعالى الذي أبدأ به كل خطبة: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا (70) يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَم يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا (71)(الأحزاب
الشيخ عبد المحسن أبو حطب
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PHILLY MOSQUE APOLOGIZES FOR CALL TO IMPOSE "ISLAM UPON ON THE WORLD."
March 11, 2019 Daniel Greenfield
Sorry, my mistake.
The mosque is instead launching an investigation to understand why it kept inviting an Imam to spew hatred against Jews and everyone else.
I can't wait for the investigation's result sometime in 2088. But it's good enough for the media and the ADL.
Al Aqsa Islamic Society said it was "shocked and outraged" by what it called a guest speaker's "reprehensible anti-Jewish remarks," vowing to "make sure that this never happens again."
"We expect that all guest speakers will respect and uphold our policy that hatred against any group of people or religion will not be tolerated," the society said in a statement attributed to board of trustees secretary Chukri Khorchid and Imam Mohamed Shehata.
The Anti-Defamation League in Philadelphia said in a statement that Al Aqsa Society leaders assured them they launched an investigation and that "hate against Jews or any group" would not be tolerated.
"We are grateful for Al Aqsa's rapid and resolute response, and we will continue to serve as a resource to the mosque as they work to combat anti-Semitism," the statement said.
The only reason that the ADL doesn't count as a joke is because jokes are funny.
Does anyone really believe that the Al Aqsa Islamic Society was unaware of what being said?
Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab, who is of Egyptian origin, delivered several antisemitic sermons at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia, PA between November 2018 and February 2019. On February 15, 2019, he said that the Jews are the vilest people in terms of their nature and moral values and that the "nefarious" Jewish media causes people to see the Muslim as an "oppressive and predatory lion."
It's okay. Four out of Eleven 2020 Dem hopefuls agree.
On November 16, 2018, Imam Abouhatab said that an Israeli prime minister had once been asked about the hadith about the rocks and the trees calling to Muslims to kill the Jews hiding behind them, and that he had answered: "The hadith is true, but we are doing our best to prevent this."
While Abouhatab was not introduced by name in the sermons, a mosque official said at the conclusion of one of them: "We thank Abdelmohsen Abouhatab for his wonderful sermon." The videos were live streamed on the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society's YouTube channel
They had no idea. Not a single clue.
The mosque has worked with the mayor of Philadelphia, the FBI, the ADL, and law enforcement
Of course it has.
Following a December 2015 incident in which a severed pig's head was found outside the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society building, sparking a police and FBI investigation, then-Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, City Council members, and interfaith leaders met at City Hall to speak against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign statements about Muslims; Mayor Nutter called Trump "an a**hole." Al-Aqsa Imam Mohamed Shehata, spoke at the meeting about the peaceful nature of Islam and of Muslims coming together with individuals of all religions in a peaceful community.
And then imposing Islam on the entire world.
Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab: "Allah sent down the best divine books to the Arab race. He sent them the best messengers, and He gave them customs and moral values that you cannot find in any other race: the [Arabs] are courageous, dignified, and noble.
"By Allah, if faith had taken root in our hearts, things would have been different. We would have imposed the word of Islam upon the world, like those before us did."
MIM: In 2007 the Al Aqsa Islamic Society was tied to members of the Fort Dix Six who were planning an attack on the New Jersey Army base. It is worth noting that the AAIS was "shaken" by revelations that they were hosting terrorists and now professes "shock and outrage" that they gave a platform to an Islamo Nazi Imam who advocated Jew killing.
Mosques Are Shaken by Ties to a Plot
By Alan Feuer 2007
PHILADELPHIA, May 11 On the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society here is a mural painted by local schoolchildren. In 18 different languages from Arabic to Swahili it depicts the world's various ways of saying "love," "hope" and "peace."
It was here that Mohamad I. Shnewer, a Philadelphia cabdriver among the six men charged with planning to attack Fort Dix, would come to pray with his father, and where three other suspects, the brothers Eljvir, Shain and Dritan Duka, had recently begun repairing the roof.
The Philadelphia mosque along with the South Jersey Islamic Center in nearby Palmyra, N.J., where the Duka brothers and another suspect, Serdar Tatar, prayed on Fridays has become associated with words like "terrorist" and "jihad" in news reports and on the streets in the last few days. For a house of worship long proud of its mainstream reputation and strong ties to the city, whispers of a sleeper cell within its walls have been troubling.
"There's been a lot of frustration," said Marwan Kreidie, who is prominent among the city's Muslims and was recently asked to serve as a spokesman for the mosque. "This is a place with great relationships to the community, including a strong working relationship with law enforcement in all its forms."
Al-Aqsa was founded in 1991, when its trustees bought an old warehouse in a run-down section of industrial Philadelphia. It is a traditional Sunni mosque, with prayers and sermons in Arabic. About 1,000 families regularly attend its Friday services, which cater to an immigrant congregation mostly Palestinian, with some from Egypt and Syria.
Aside from the taxi drivers (whose cars line up outside, starting at 4:30 a.m., for the first of the five daily prayers), the congregants are a mix of working-class and professional people, Mr. Kreidie said. As Al-Aqsa grew, so did its involvement in the neighborhood. The mosque has been the host of forums for candidates for the Philadelphia City Council, serves as an Election Day polling site and has worked with other religious groups to deliver meals at home to people who have AIDS...
MIM: On February 14th the Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy hosted students from the Al Aqsa Islamic Academy and The St. Christopher Catholic School for an interfaith aka "dawah" program.This is not the first time the Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy has cuddled up to Islamists. In 2013 they invited 'Zak Ibrahim' the son of El Sayed Nosair an Al Qaeda operative who murdered Rabbi Meir Kahane to speak at a 'Human Rights' assembly.http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/5707
These were some of the questions Muslim and Catholic middle school students at Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy and St. Christopher Catholic School had for middle schoolers at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy.
Meanwhile, Barrack students had questions of their own for these other students, such as: Why is the cross the symbol of your religion? Why do women wear burqas and hijabs? How do Muslims perceive Jews?
In the fall, Writers Matter, a writing program directed by La Salle University Professor Emeritus Robert Vogel expanded to include an interfaith program for middle school students in Philadelphia.
This specific Writers Matter Interfaith pilot program grew out of the original Writers Matter program, based at La Salle. It empowers students from disadvantaged backgrounds by encouraging them to write. After taking the program abroad first to Israel and Palestinian communities in 2010, and then to India in 2016 and to refugee children in Sweden the same year Vogel decided he wanted to bring the program to local religious schools.
In this program, students discuss and write about identity, diversity and community while learning about and meeting students from other religions.
"When we started to get the kids together, we realized that they all lived in their own little bubble," Vogel said. "They really had no idea about each other, not because they didn't want to, they had just never had the opportunity."
Originally, the goal of the program was to bring students from different religious schools together to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, it quickly became apparent that the students' unfamiliarity with other religions needed to be addressed first.
On Nov. 29, the students from the different schools came together for the first time at Barrack, where they learned about each other, particularly about each other's religions. The Barrack students explained some of their religious objects, the Al Aqsa students did a prayer and students from each school led grace before lunch.
Stephanie Raphel, a teacher at Barrack, said that, in addition to learning about other religions while simultaneously being exposed to people from those religions, answering questions from other students about Judaism has prompted Barrack students to explore their own religious identities.
Raphel noted that it wasn't only religious differences that stood out. Students from the other schools made comments about socioeconomic differences, such as about how nice the Barrack school is.
After lunch, the students had free time, and some of the boys from the three schools went to play basketball.
"You can recognize the fact that there are differences but still build bridges over the differences," Raphel said. "You've got some commonalities, even if it's just playing basketball together in the gym."
In addition to the November meeting, the students meet regularly with teachers in their own schools to address the assignments from Writers Matter, such as creating videos about their hobbies or upbringings, or writing "I Am From" poems, as well as discussing topics such as tolerance.
On Feb. 21, the students will come together again, this time at Al-Aqsa.
Raphel said that, now that the students are more familiar and less nervous with each other, she expects more in-depth discussion. The students will have the opportunity to share their writing with each other this time, and she is interested to see how the different location impacts the meeting.
"The main purpose of the program is for students to open up to other groups of students, to diversity, and to realize that the things that unite us, the things that are alike, are greater than the things that divide us," said Jose Santiago, social studies teacher at Al-Aqsa. "That's the main purpose of the program, and my students are finding exactly that."
Marwan Kreidie: State Civil Service chairman and Rendell appointee moonlights as spokesman for Al Aqsa mosque and terror plotters
May 13, 2007
MIM: A conflict of interests is relative. WIth dhimmitude and political correctness trumping survival and national security being spokesman for the Al Aqsa mosque and defending the three Duka brothers is all in a days work for State Civil Service chairman Marwan Kreidie. According to this state employee whose outside associations include the Saudi funded Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the Arab American Community Development Corporation (AAADC) the Al Aqsa mosque is an oasis of peace in a radical Islamist world and the three Duka brothers arrested for planning to kill "as many Americans as possible" at Fort Dix were just repairing the roof and "very rarely" prayed there.
Marwan Kreidie was appointed to the State Civil Service Commission by Governor Edward G. Rendell and confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate on June 28, 2004. He was appointed to the position of Chairman of the State Civil Service Commission by Governor Rendell on May 2, 2005.
Prior to his appointment to the Commission, Chairman Kreidie served as a Civil Service Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia. He has served in numerous other appointed as well as professional positions in local government including Transportation Planner, Assistant to a Township Manager and helping to create a recycling program for the City of Philadelphia. Chairman Kreidie also served as a research analyst for "Solutions for Progress." In this role, he was responsible for preparing policy papers on a variety of topics including urban policy/affairs, solid waste management and the Middle East peace process. Chairman Kreidie is founder and executive director of the Philadelphia Arab-American Community Development Corporation (AACDC). The AACDC provides services to the Arab-American community including health care, access to social services, English as a second language and citizenship classes. Chairman Kreidie is an active member of the National Leadership Conference of the Arab-American Institute in Washington, D.C. http://www.state.pa.us/papower/cwp/view.asp?A=11&Q=442641
