Shmuli Boteach, blogging in the Jerusalem Post, was not surprised when the leader of Da'esh in Baghdad, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, finally came out with bloodcurdling threats against the Jews. Yes, 'kill the Jews!' is a rallying cry for desperate Islamists, but it is a safe bet that had there been any Jews still living in the areas controlled by Syria and Iraq, they would long ago have met the same sorry fate as the Yazidis and Christians.
Islamic State fighters (Photo: Islamic Social Media)
Something I have found so surprising throughout all these events is how
IS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have hardly made even the
smallest mention of Israel or the Jews. I was waiting for that
inevitable day when IS would declare its intentions to destroy Israel
and commit genocide against the Jewish people.
It’s kind of a
coming of age, a rite of passage for a terrorist group when the day
comes that they announce their intentions to wipe out the Israelites.
But the weeks and months passed and we heard not a peep.
I was
not alone in noticing this. For the past few years a favorite rumor
among conspiracy theorists and haters of Israel alike has been that IS
is actually a Mossad organization, and Baghdadi is in reality a Jew.
Why
else have they not done anything to harm the Jews? After all, no one
can deny that, barring immediate existential threats, the Jews pretty
much always receive the top honors on the genocide wish lists of
terrorist organizations.
And now suddenly this last Saturday,
after IS had finally taken a real beating from Western forces and air
strikes, Baghdadi released a message to his demoralized fighters in
which he declares, “We are getting closer to you [Israel] day by day.
Do not think that we have forgotten about you.”
Baghdadi
continues, “God caused the Jews of the world to gather in Israel, and
the war against them has become easy. It is the obligation of every
Muslim to carry out Jihad.” He added, “Jews, you will not enjoy
Palestine. God has gathered you in Palestine so that the Mujahedeen can
reach you soon and you will hide by the rock and the tree.
Palestine will be your graveyard.”
Read article in full
Carlo Panella points out that both main varieties of Islam, the Sunna and the Shi`ah, have Jewish conspiracy narratives as does the Christian or Western world. The Sunna believes that a Jewish schemer/provocateur caused the Sunni-Shiite rift of early Islam. The Shi`ah believes that a Jewish plotter caused the schism within the Shi`ah between the mainstream and the Isma`ilis. Or, as I recall, between the Sevener Shiites and the Twelver Shiites.
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