Canadian Imam Tarek Ramadan said that it was the duty of the Muslims to fight alongside their brothers and sisters in Palestine "by any means necessary," because the Al-Aqsa Mosque was "under a gang of the worst kind of Mankind – if you can even call them Mankind, those Zionists." "We can give them any aid they want: money, weapons, expertise. We are not going to be shy about it," said Ramadan, whose July 28 Friday sermon at the Muslim Association of Canada's Vancouver branch was posted on the association's YouTube channel. He further said that the Jews had plotted and schemed to assassinate Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II when he refused to give them land.

Following are excerpts:

Tarek Ramadan: The other day, the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Caliphate, which has done so much for Islam, Allah be praised… At the later stage, they had weak leaders, and unfortunately, so many uprisings of the Jews took place at that time. They had organizations and associations that were wearing beards like Muslims, praying in the mosque, and when they achieved what they wanted, they took their beards off and said: "We are Jews. Now we got what we wanted."

They put a man called Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in power. But even though, the wisdom of Allah… So that the Turks have credited this nation… Even though it was the late stage, the weak time of the Ottoman Caliphate, Allah sent them Sultan Abdul Hamid, who was one of the strongest. He tried his absolute best to rectify and fix the situations, and to bring the Islamic nation back, but because it was already cracking, it was too much, he couldn't handle it on his own.

That was the last Caliph of the Muslims, Sultan Abdul Hamid.

At that time our Jewish brethren were coming to him and saying: "We need a land – or a portion of land – of Palestine." They did not say: "We want a land to live on or to build on," by the way. They said they wanted a land to farm. "We just want a land so we can farm, meaning that we can lease it from you." This is the true history.

Frank Herzl led this organization and went to talk… He tried to bribe Sultan Abdul Hamid by lots of money, at that time, to pay the debts of the Caliphate. [The sultan] said: "This is a waqf. I don't have a say. I cannot give you one inch of it. Walk away, please."

So until then… They said that this man must go. They played a major role to kick him out, or to assassinate him, or whatever they were plotting and planning.

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The Al-Aqsa Mosque, as I've said, is a trust placed in the hands of every Muslims. It is now invaded by an impure gang of Israelites. It is now under a gang of the worst kind of Mankind – if you can even call them Mankind, those Zionists, who have no mercy, no respect, no holiness, no respect for anybody, for any humanity.

It is not only Muslims who are suffering there. It is Muslims, Christians, and other people who are suffering.

So our first duty towards this land – when we come to the understanding that it is a waqf and a trust – is to fight [along] with our brothers and sisters, by any means necessary.

The United Nations declared that the Palestinian people have a right to defend themselves. So we can give them any aid they want: money, weapons, expertise. We are not going to be shy about it.

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So it is our duty, an individual duty, that we all share their Jihad and their struggle against the Zionists, by all means necessary – by all legal means and any Islamic means. We are not going to be shy or wishy-washy about it.

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The [Israelis] have unlimited money from Wall Street. They have money from your mutual funds, by the way, that you save in your banks. Whether you know it or not, the liberal government sends them money. Okay? They have the taxpayers' money. What do the Palestinians have? They don't have nothing!

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Cut-and-dried again – we are not going to be wishy-washy about it – the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, the city, and all of Palestine should only be in the custody of the Muslims. It should not be in the custody of the Christians, the Jews, or anybody else. I don't care what anybody else says. It should only be in the custody of Muslims.

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