Mideast expert discusses ISIS threat to Israel

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An Israeli imam from Umm el-Fahm called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “Jewish dog” and voiced support for Islamic State during a sermon whose footage was posted on the Internet.Muhammad Abd al-Ghani, of the al-Tawhid mosque in the northern town, also used the sermon to criticize Hamas for being too moderate and cooperating with Israel.Hamas, he said, had formed an “alliance” with Israel because it denied reports it had cooperated with Islamic State in an attack in Sinai last week.The remarks were translated by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) and posted on its website.“Recently, that Jewish dog Netanyahu – may Allah curse him – said, following the operation of Islamic State mujahideen in Sinai, that our brothers in Hamas had participated with Islamic State in this operation,” Ghani is shown saying in the footage.“Our brothers in Hamas were forced to issue a statement to the media – saying what? Did they say: ‘True, [Islamic State members] are Muslims, and so are we’? Did they say: ‘Yes, they wage jihad against the figureheads of heresy and deception, and so do we’?” Ghani rhetorically asks.“Only a few days ago, they assassinated 13 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Hamas itself belongs,” he continues. “What the official spokesman for Hamas did say to Netanyahu was: ‘No, your honor, the prime minister of Israel. You are wrong. We did not and will not cooperate with [Islamic State], because they are our common enemy.’ A common enemy? What? Have the Jews and Hamas struck an alliance? Are they now in the same trench, fighting the mujahideen, who raise the Islamic banner of ‘There is no God but Allah?’” The MEMRI piece cites media reports saying that Ghani removed a sign with the Islamic State symbol from the entrance to the mosque following repeated demands by police. However, according to the group, the symbol continues to appear on his YouTube account.The imam also made blatantly anti-Semitic comments during the recorded address, saying the Jews were “behind every catastrophe afflicting our Islamic nation.”“Behind all the catastrophes, all the bloodshed, all the countries that have been invaded and their governments brought down, all the countries that have been burned down, along with their people, and all the blood that is shed in the streets.... Behind all these is an accursed Jew,” the imam is shown saying.“You should know that. This is divine law. In His beloved Koran, Allah mentioned ‘corruption upon the land’ only in reference to the Jews,” he says.