Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2009] DEFEAT, RAGE, AND JEW HATRED 123
with which to recognize the viciousness and mendacity of such TV programs,
while the politicians who talk of “peace in the Middle East” ignore
the power of this kind of propaganda.
When we turn to Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, we find a similar message without
the Nazi trappings. Al-Qaradawi is the author of over 100 books on
Islam and Islamism and is one of the most widely read contemporary
Islamic scholars. He also has had a weekly program on Al-Jazeera TV, al-
Shari’a wal-Hayat (Shari’a and Life), and is the co-founder and president of
the International Association of Muslim Scholars and the European Council
for Fatwa and Research. He has, however, been refused entry into the
United States and has been barred from entering the United Kingdom as a
“threat to peace and security.” 88 Although controversial, Al-Qaradawi is not
a fringe figure, but a major Islamic leader capable of influencing millions. 89
During the Israeli action against Hamas in Gaza, Qaradawi delivered a
TV sermon on Friday January 9, 2009, in which he called for the complete
extermination of the Jews:
Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the
Jews, the treacherous aggressors. . .. this profligate, cunning, arrogant
band of people. Oh Allah, they have spread much tyranny and corruption
in the land. Pour Your wrath upon them, oh our God. Lie in wait for
them. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people of Thamoud at the hand of a
tyrant, and You annihilated the people of ‘Aad with a fierce, icy gale. . ..
and You destroyed the Pharaoh and his soldiers—oh Allah, take this
oppressive, tyrannical band of people. Oh Allah, take this oppressive,
Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of
them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last
one.
Having implored Allah to destroy the Jews, Qaradawi urges his fellow
Muslims to join in Allah’s work:
We wait for the revenge of Allah to descend upon them, and, Allah willing,
it will be by our own hands: “Fight them, Allah will torment them by
your hands, and bring them to disgrace, and will assist you against them,
and will heal the hearts of the believers, and you will still the anger of
your hearts.” This is my message to the treacherous Jews, who have
88. Jenny Booth, “Muslim Outrage as Yusuf al-Qaradawi refused UK visa,”
TimesOnLine, February 7, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article
3325439.ece.
89. For a biographical essay on Qaradawi, see Ann Bélen Soage, “Shaykh
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: Portrait of a Leading Islamic Cleric,” Middle East Review of
International Affairs 12, no. 1 (March 2008).