(Philadelphia Inquirer) Officials at a North Philadelphia mosque known for its commitment to interreligious dialogue have apologized for anti-Semitic statements made by a guest imam during several sermons delivered there over the last few months.
The comments in Arabic by Imam Abdelmohsen Abouhatab at Al-Aqsa Islamic Society included a reference to Jews as “the vilest” people, according to videotaped excerpts released last week by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors and translates Arabic and Muslim media.
Abouhatab, whom MEMRI describes as of “Egyptian origin,” described former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a “Polish crook.”
In a reference to the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, which resulted in hundreds of mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites being killed at two Beirut-area refugee camps, Abouhatab said that Begin “would stand next to a pregnant woman, and would make bets whether it is a boy or a girl.”
