In Italy, al-Aqsa Mosque imam urges destruction of Israel

An imam from Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque last week called for Israel’s destruction while on a visit to Italy, urging Arab armies — including those of Egypt and Jordan, with whom Israel has signed peace agreements — to “liberate” the land.

During an Islamic conference in the city of Milan, the cleric, Raed al-Danna, said Israel would soon “vanish,” enabling the Palestinians to return to Jaffa, Haifa and other cities within the Green Line.

“In Gaza, there are great and proud men, whose feet are firmly planted in the ground, who have realized that darkness and the Jewish state would vanish, and that the morning sun will rise on Palestine,” he said in comments filmed by al-Jazeera and translated by media monitoring group MEMRI.

“We will return to the sea of Jaffa, to the sands of Haifa, to the palm trees of Beit She’an, and to the hills of Lod and Ramla,” al-Danna predicted.

He said the clerics and worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque, which has recently been the site of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, were awaiting “the legions of the conquerors” who would take over Israel.

“We await the armies from Tunisia, from Jordan, from Egypt, from Iraq, from the Maghreb, and from the Hijaz,” al-Danna said.

“We await a Muslim leader, whose voice we yearn to hear, shouting to the liberating armies in the al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard,” he continued.

“You must say the afternoon prayer only in Safed, Haifa, or Jaffa. You must say the afternoon prayer only in Lod and Ramla.”

A crowd member could then be heard shouting, “Allahu Akbar.”