Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
The ZOA continues to call on Imam Ammar Shahin to be fired unless he demonstrates that his weak, brief, halting apology for Jews’ feelings being “hurt” delivered from a written statement, was sincere by taking real steps to undo the damage done by his horrendous recent genocidal/Hamas-like hour-long sermons at the Islamic Center of Davis, California (“ICD”) calling for the murder of every Jew and a worldwide Muslim holy war against Israel. He quoted a Nazi-like Islamic Hadith, “Oh Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews, Annihilate them to the very last one.” Imam Shahin’s sermons were so hateful and anti-Semitic that two liberal Democratic Congressmen, Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. John Garamendi, and ZOA called for Imam Shahin to be fired. (See “ZOA Horrified by US Imam’s Hitler-Like Demand to Murder Jews – Fire Him!, July 28, 2017; also see MEMRI’s statement and translations of Imam Shahin’s anti-Semitic July 14 and July 21 sermons.)
ZOA calls on Imam Shahin to publicly condemn this Islamic genocidal Islamic Hadith and Hamas, and condemn Hamas’s calls for the murder of every Jew; permanently remove his incendiary Hamas scarf; and publicly condemn the Palestinian Arab terrorists who murdered two Israeli policemen on the Temple Mount, and broke into and brutally slaughtered members of the Salomon family in their home while the family was eating Sabbath dinner.
ZOA calls on Imam Shahin to condemn Palestinian Arabs who throw rocks at Israelis (in his July 21 sermon) and condemn the PA for paying Palestinian Arab terrorists to knife, car ram and murder Jews.
ZOA also calls on Imam Shahin to undo his anti-Semitic and violence-inciting call to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews” (in his July 14 and July 21 sermons): Imam Shahin needs to publicly declare that the Temple Mount and Jerusalem is holy to the Jews.
Additionally, ZOA calls on Imam Shahin to publicly retract his anti-Semitic lie in his July 21 sermon that “those wicked Jews are prohibiting prayer” at al Aqsa. Imam Shahin needs to publicly explain that the very brief closure of al Aqsa and (the since-removed metal detectors) were reasonable and necessary after Palestinian Arab terrorists used the mosque as a weapons arsenal and murdered two Israeli policemen on the Temple Mount. Indeed, metal detectors would make prayer at al Aqsa safer for all concerned.
ZOA further calls on Imam Shahin to publicly retract his outrageous blood libels that Jews are causing Arab children to die of hunger, raping women and killing children in Gaza (in the Imam’s July 14 sermon). To undo these horrendous libels, Imam Shahin needs to publicly acknowledge that Israel sends hundreds of truckloads into Gaza every day, and acts humanely.
And ZOA calls on Imam Shahin to retract his anti-Semitic statement that the Torah is “corrupt.” Interfaith relations require Muslim leaders to show the same respect for Judaism’s and Christianity’s holy books that they would wish others to show for their holy books.
ZOA also calls on the Imam to acknowledge that Israel does scrupulously protect Muslim worship rights. The following statement in Imam Shahin’s apology statement insinuated otherwise: “Indeed, commitment to defending religious rights in Jerusalem should not cause division or fan the flame of anti-Semitism.” (See Video of apology embedded in Sacramento Bee article.
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (a/k/a Maimonides, the Rambam or in Arabic, Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh) – the great twelfth century Torah scholar, physician, court physician to Muslim military leader Saladin, philosopher, leader of the Cairo Jewish community and codifier of Jewish law – explained that repentance for wrongs (Teshuvah) involves more than a simple “I’m sorry.” Repentance requires proactively reversing the damage one has caused and taking responsibility to change one’s future behavior. (See The Path to Repentence, by Rabbi Lazer Gurkow.) The Islamic repentance concept of Tawbah is similar to the Jewish concept of Teshuvah.
Frighteningly, this Muslim call for murdering Jews and the latest Muslim violence against Jews is nothing new or unique — its been going on for a over a thousand years! Anti-Semite Imam Shahin’s murderous calls against Jews is not an aberration, but a regular occurrence by Arab and Muslim political, religious and media leaders. WE must demand that all non-Muslim and Muslim political, religious and media leaders speak out against this scourge each and every time.
We hope to see the anti-Semite Imam Shahin make real amends and permanent changes. Otherwise his weak statement of “sorrow” remains hollow and devoid of any real meaning. If he does not do so promptly, he should be fired as any Rabbi or Pastor or Priest would, who called for the murder of every Muslim.