Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that the financial crisis in the United States was divine punishment for the country's treatment of Muslims. “What's going on in America is a result of the violation of the rights of people in Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Muslims around the world,” he said.

Haniyeh referred to the financial woes as “the collapse of the American empire.” Similar remarks have been made by senior religious leaders in Iran and by members of international terrorist group Al-Qaeda.