Groups that monitor Arab-language media are abuzz over a recent sermon in which the acting speaker of the Palestinian parliament, a leading Hamas member named Ahmad Bahr, implored God to annihilate America and Israel, and to kill all Americans and Jews.
Here are two excerpts from a translation produced by The Middle East Media Research Institute:
America will be annihilated, while Islam will remain. The Muslims 'will be victorious, if you are believers.' Oh Muslims, I guarantee you that the power of Allah is greater than America, by whom many are blinded today. Some people are blinded by the power of America. We say to them that with the might of Allah, with the might of His Messenger, and with the power of Allah, we are stronger than America and Israel. ...
Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet - defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them.
You can read the transcript or watch the video. Here's subtitled video of Ahmad Bahar preaching on Palestinian TV.
A short biography prepared by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says the parliamentarian, known as Abu Akram, has a doctorate in English and worked as a teacher in the Palestinian territories. He spent two years in an Israeli prison and has 13 children, according to the bio.
As you'd expect, bloggers aren't very happy with his comments.
A blogger who goes by TigerHawk writes: We are the only country on Earth that sends massive amounts of aid to governments whose elected leaders then bend over backwards to insult us or, in the case of the Palestinians, call for our annihilation. Presumably, we only gave this money to the Palestinians to suck up to Muslims with oil and mollify European politicians and American transnational progressives. Even so, it's pretty damned degrading.
Captain's Quarters, a popular conservative blog, had a similar reaction. "This is what our money buys," Ed Morrissey writes.
Unhyphenated Canadian says its time for his countrymen to break out patches with the maple leaf on them "because I doubt whether Hamas terrorists could tell the difference between an American and a Canadian."
(Photo showing Bahar, flanked by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh taken on March 17 in Gaza by Abid Katib, Getty Images.)