The Sages Who Seek to Set the World Ablaze

From the President’s Desk
The Anti-Semite Corner of the Week

A new religious ruling by “Islamic sages” calls for killing Jews as a holy commandment in the name of Allah. Why must we know about this, and what should we do about it?

By: Anat Vidor, WIZO President

Not in a dark basement, not anonymously, and not with pixelated faces, about a month ago, 350 Islamist religious leaders from around the world gathered in Turkey. Their mission: to create a contemporary religious ruling under the umbrella title “The Ruling of Islamic Sages.” Forty Islamic organizations signed off on this piece of “wisdom” they created, granting it broad legitimacy in the Muslim world. For those curious to be exposed to these pearls of wisdom themselves, the fruit of the vine of the religion of brotherhood and peace, here is a summary of their words. One look at them, and let’s begin.

And the sages opened their mouths and said: “All of Palestine – from the river to the sea – is Muslim. Anyone who gives up even a handful of it shall be called a traitor. Zionism is the enemy of humanity, Jews are infidels, and killing them is a commandment. On October 7th we were blessed with holy justice in the name of Allah. There should be no doubt about Hamas and the path of jihad. Iranian missiles on Israel are blessed, and all Arab nations must follow suit to destroy Israel.” End of the wisdom verses.

Indeed, you read correctly: ethnic cleansing, genocide, racism, not in secret but openly, not in an indictment but in a respectable religious ruling distributed with pride. Where are all the slippery evasions we so love? Where are all the verbal sophistries? Where is the antisemitism masquerading as objective criticism of the IDF’s humanitarian conduct or the mechanism for aiding Gaza’s children?

Even among us, some have been convinced that it’s in our hands. For surely there is no evil people; there are people who have it bad, and if we just pay the right price, then we’ll get peace in Tehran and hummus in Damascus. Even among us at home there are voices believing that all the blame for the war rests entirely on the pyromaniacs among us, who set the Middle East ablaze for their pleasure. And here come these respected religious sages, saying in the simplest language possible, before 2 billion believers: it’s not Jewish behavior that’s problematic, but their very existence. In a world with 157 countries with Christian majorities and 57 with Muslim majorities, even one country with a Jewish majority is a burden that Islam cannot bear!

In this, beyond the chilling transparency of evil, the Islamic sages expose the incomprehensible mental gap between worlds. While our sages coin sayings about peace, compose songs about love, and write parables about tolerance and acceptance of others, the world of the sages on the other side is sown with burning thorns and valleys of weeping. Their doctrine is an endless religious war, with absolute rejection of any compromise as a solution.

True, the new religious ruling does not represent the entire Muslim world. But it corresponds with additional religious rulings, all of which contain calls for jihad and incitement to violence in one form or another. Now against Jews, and after them, other infidels waiting in line: Christians, Buddhists, Druze, Bahá’ís, atheists, idol worshippers, and even Muslims from the rival stream. All of them are infidels, and the world of Islamic wisdom will know no peace until their complete elimination.

And this the world must know and remember well! The morality preachers, ceasefire enthusiasts, humanitarian devotees, those horrified by the atrocities of war, all of them who come to advise Israel how to act toward the enemy must remember: the spirit ruling the heart of our enemy does not permit them any choice other than an endless “holy” war until the destruction of the last infidel in the world. And this obligates us… to eliminate them first.

A Story for Dessert

The photo of Yaron Lishinsky, the embassy employee murdered in Washington along with his fiancée, appears on an antisemitic flyer distributed in Germany calling to “frighten the Jews.” Armin Laschet, a senior member of Germany’s ruling party, responded: “The goal is not solidarity with Gaza, but killing Jews.” Amazing that there’s still a need to say this.