Ibrahim Sarsour, an Israeli-Arab Knesset Member, calls to establish Islamic Caliphate centered in Jerusalem and praises Hizbullah for defeating Israel.
Israeli-Arab MKs have long been accused of spouting anti-Israel rhetoric, but it appears that Sarsour, a seemingly mild-mannered Knesset Member and leader of the Ra’am-Ta’al United Arab List party, has now gone further than most.
In a recent speech – in Arabic – at Abdul Rahman’s club in Israel, Sarsour actually lauded Hizbullah, a Lebanese terrorist organization bent on vanquishing Israel, for having “defeated” Israel in the Second Lebanon War in 2006. He also encouraged Hizbullah to continue working to this end in the future.
The speech was reported on and translated into English by Walid Shoebat, a former PLO member who converted to Christianity and is a strong critic of militant Islam.
Shoebat says that MK Sarsour also called in his speech for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate centered in Jerusalem.
Praise for Hizbullah
Regarding Hizbullah, Sarsour said: “Yes, there is a force in Southern Lebanon that proudly raised its head to challenge American and Israeli supremacy - with a project that carries the seeds of dignity. [It] is based on Islamic pillars and foundations, and has a vision to manage the war with the enemy [Israel]. Its internal management is well designed to benefit the Umma [Islamic nation].”
Referring to the 2006 War, Sarsour said, “Then came the blow that ended in the humiliation, through these fighters grinding the nose in the dirt of the number-one power in the Middle East, that is Israel. This defeat caused an earthquake measuring 10 on the Richter scale and on the political scale in Israel. The aftershocks continue from this great earthquake of 2006 until today. There was none left [without humiliation] from the Defense Minister, Interior Minister and Prime Minister!"
“Keep in mind,” Sarsour continued, “there is strength and strategic insight and presence locally and regionally for Hizbullah... They are thinking how to return this fear to Israel and how to destroy Israel's deterrence, which is the pillar of Israel's continuation. And if this happens, this means that the line will begin to point extremely downwards for Israel’s deterrence.”
Shoebat: Kahane No, Sarsour Yes?
In an article on Sarsour, Shoebat asks, “If the Kach or Kahane Chai parties are considered by the State of Israel to be… a ‘danger to the state’ and are barred from the Knesset, then why is Ibrahim Sarsour of the Ra'am-Ta'al party allowed to keep his seat? Ra'am-Ta'al is a seditious Arab political party that spouts more rhetoric then any other extremist group in Israel.”
In another instance, Shoebat reports, Sarsour all but called for Israel’s annihilation: “[The West] planted this foreign object [Israel] which does not fit in an eastern Islamic environment, planted it in its heart as to remain as a thorn in their side and a thorn in their throat in order to prevent their [Muslim] unity so as to stop this Islamic giant to take its [historic] position.”
And on the Other Side of His Mouth...
To Israelis, Sarsour speaks differently: “They [Israeli Jews] should be thinking about me not as a fifth column, but as an integral part of the country who might contribute a lot for the building of this state and might contribute a certain bridge between Israeli Jews and the Arab and Muslim world.”
Sarsour heads the southern branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement – whose banner can be seen in another video in which kindergarten children in an Arab school enthusiastically take part in prayer services with slogans such as: “O Allah, slaughter them. O Allah, make widows of Jewish women… make orphans of their children… disperse their families, give a dark day for all the Arabs that collaborate with them, O Allah do not lift a banner for the Jews and do not fulfill their goals…”
“How far will Israel go in allowing Islamists to help run the country?” Shoebat asks. “In pluralistic Israel, apparently even a jihadist can be a public servant.”