In an interview with the Moroccan radio station Medradio, Amazigh poet and activist Malika Mazan defended Zionism, claiming that like any other nation, the Jews have the right to establish their homeland. Later in the interview, which was posted on the Internet on September 19 in video form, Mazan explained posts on her Facebook page in which she had declared that she was countering the practice of "sex Jihad" attributed to Jihadists fighting in Syria by offering her sex services to members of the Kurdish army fighting ISIS. This was a symbolic act of solidarity, a metaphor, Mazan explained.

Following are excerpts:

Malika Mazan: Zionism is a global movement of the Jews, who strived to establish their homeland and gather their people from all around the world. They came to Palestine because of the ancient historical link of the Jews to the land of Palestine, as acknowledged by all religions. Zionism is the establishment of a homeland for the Jews.

TV host: So you're a Zionist.

Malika Mazan: What's that got to do with it? The Jews wanted something to unite them on their own land. They initiated several political and economic activities, having lived in a diaspora, and suffered from racism, massacres, and the gas chambers of the Nazis. They believed that it was their right. Perhaps Nazism presented a historical opportunity for them to awaken, and think of a way to return to their land, instead of being dispersed worldwide. They wanted to rectify the historical mistake... Zionism means that the Jews want to establish their own state. It's their right. We never heard that the [ancient] Jews lived in Alaska or in Australia. History and all religions and cultures admit that the Jews lived [in Palestine].

[...]

Zionism is the establishment of a Jewish homeland, which is the right of any nation. You cannot expect them to establish their homeland on the moon. They have the right to return to their homeland. What do the Arabs want? They want to establish an Arab homeland, but not on the territory acknowledged as theirs by history and geography. No, sir. They want their homeland to be at the expense of the land and the very existence of others. In that sense, the Arabs are more what they call "Zionist" than the Jews. If the Arabs have any self-respect they should stick to their own borders. They should stay within the Arabian Peninsula - in the Hijaz, to be precise. The Arabs can continue to dream that they are the supreme race. The Arabs consider themselves to be the Chosen People.

TV host: Dear God...

Malika Mazan: I am not afraid to speak my mind. I call it as I see it. The Arabs, in their audacity, transgressed their borders, and they want an Arab state at the expense of other nationalities, and of the right of others to exist and to live in dignity, liberty, and independence. Is it the Zionists who are hostile to the Arabs, or is it the Arabs who are hostile to all the free people?

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With regard to "sex Jihad" - as a poet, I can tell you in poetic language that I perform sex Jihad with the wounded Amazigh body.

TV host: Dear God...

Malika Mazan: My writings and my poetry attest to that. All my life I've been hearing about the "wounded Arab body" - as if nobody else has wounds... They injure us, and then expect us to sympathize with them. What stupidity! They belong in a mental asylum.

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I am not really a prostitute. I am a prostitute in the metaphorical sense. I use everybody's taboos against them. I take the taboos with which they want to shackle us, and I use them against them.

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There are many things you could say about me, but sex Jihad... First of all, I would never allow myself to stoop to the level of barbarism practiced today in the Middle East, in the name of religion and in the defense of Allah and all kinds of holy places. They use religion to get little girls in order to satisfy their urges. If you really perform Jihad for the sake of Allah, you should respect your manliness and your religion, rather than use it as an opportunity to get little girls. Be a mujahid for the sake of Jihad, not for sex, you dog! These people are wolves. These people are dogs.

[...]

TV host: You said that you were offering your sex services to any member of the Kurdish army interested in these services...

Malika Mazan: Sir, I said this as a symbolic act of solidarity. This was a metaphor...

TV host: What do you mean symbolic?!

Malika Mazan: I said this as a form of irony.

TV host: You call this irony?!

Malika Mazan: People all over the world fight for the loftiest cause using the basest means.

TV host: But that's why people accuse you of having no shame...

Malika Mazan: Luckily for me, the Kurdish people - the relevant party in this regard - accepted my statement with respect. They understood what I was talking about.

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