In a Friday sermon delivered at the Islamic Center of Davis in northern California on July 14, the center's Egyptian-born Imam Ammar Shahin said that the "wicked Jews" were prohibiting prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and prayed to Allah to "liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews." Imam Shahin also said: "Oh Allah, destroy them and do not spare their young or their elderly... Oh Allah, turn Jerusalem and Palestine into a graveyard for the Jews." Imam Shahin earned a B.A. in Islamic studies in Egypt, and traveled in 1999 to the U.S., where he obtained a degree in computer engineering. He is listed as an instructor of the Zidni Islamic Institute, a California-based organization that teaches Sunni Islam in the West. The sermon was posted on the Islamic Center of Davis YouTube channel.

Sheikh Ammar Shahin: "It is incumbent upon every Muslim – I am not saying 'every Muslim emir,' or 'caliph,' or 'king,' or 'president'' – every Muslim who attests that there is no god but Allah, every Muslim who accepts Allah as his Lord, Islam as his religion, and Muhammad as his Prophet... It is incumbent upon him to support his brothers in Palestine, even if only through prayer – and I am not saying 'even if only through prayer' out of weakness. By Allah, the Prophet Muhammad told us, in many narrations – and there is no time to list all of them now – that prayer is the strongest weapon that Muslims have. By Allah, brothers, it is stronger than the weapons of the Jews, the deceit of the Jews, and their wickedness.

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"The Al-Aqsa Mosque is besieged, and there are no prayers in it. Those wicked Jews are prohibiting prayer there, so how can one not pray to Allah at night, because he is busy with his food, his drink, his children, or his country, his circumstances, or things that happen to him? Isn't there a single wise man among us?

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"We are not talking about children who are dying from hunger because of what the Jews are doing to them. We are not talking about Gaza and the women who are getting raped, the children who are getting killed, and the infants who are getting killed. We are not talking about any of that. We are talking about the mosque today only. We are talking about the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

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"May Allah protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the harm of the Jews. Oh Allah, protect our brothers in the land of Palestine. Oh Allah, let us pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque before we die. Oh Allah, allow Jerusalem to be liberated. Oh Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews. Oh Allah, show us the wonders of Your ability that you inflict upon them. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon them. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon those who wish ill upon [the Al-Aqsa] Mosque. Oh Allah, keep them preoccupied with one another, and make a deterrent example out of them. Oh Allah, count them one by one and destroy them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them. Oh Allah, destroy them and do not spare their young or their elderly. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon those who occupy Palestine. Oh Allah, show us the wonders of Your ability that you inflict upon them. Oh Allah, turn Jerusalem and Palestine into a graveyard for the Jews."