Mufti Muhammad Hussein at Fatah celebration
Mufti Muhammad Hussein at Fatah celebrationIsrael news photo: PA TV courtesy of PMW

A top PA cleric claimed at a major Fatah event that Muslims are in a religious war with the Jews -- the descendants of "apes and pigs."

The Mufti Muhammad Hussein also presented the murder of Jews by Muslims as a religious Islamic goal while celebrating the 47th anniversary of the PA's Fatah faction. An appointee of PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, the Mufti made the claim at an official Fatah event marking the founding of the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), also led by Abbas, as well.

The moderator who introduced the Mufti also reiterated another "Islamic belief" -- that the Jews are descendants of apes and pigs," according to a broadcast on PA TV translated by the media watchdog agency Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (ie: the Jews) is a war of religion and faith," the moderator said.

The Mufti added to the moderator's statement, saying that Islam's goal is to kill the Jews. The same cleric had previously preached in a sermon at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque in 2010 that the Jews are "enemies of Allah."

Citing what he said was the Hadith (the Islamic tradition attributed to Muslim prophet Muhammad), the Mufti claimed "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stone or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'O Muslim, servant of Allah (G-d), there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' "

Although a video of the January 9, 2012 speech had been available on YouTube, it has been removed because it violated the site's Terms of Service for violence. A poll sponsored by the Israel Project found that 73 percent of PA Arabs "believe" this Hadith, according to the findings of a July 2011 study by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.