RUTHFULLY YOURS

Sofian Zakkout’s intense hatred of Israel has led him to apply the same bigotry towards Jews in general. Last month, under one of his postings on social media calling for the destruction of Israel, Zakkout showed his approval of a cartoon inviting a Muslim wielding a rifle to murder a Jew that was in his vicinity. This month and hereafter, Zakkout must be shunned from society, if not be called to account for incitement to commit violence.

Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout is the founder and President of the Miami, Florida-based American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA). Both Zakkout and his group regularly attack Israel on the internet and, once in a while, hold rallies to do the same. One AMANA rally in particular, held in July 2014 outside the Israeli Consulate in Downtown Miami, featured rally goers repeatedly shouting “We are Hamas” and “Let’s go Hamas.”

For Zakkout and his group to sponsor such a rally was no strange occurrence. Indeed, Zakkout has, for years, used social media to promote Hamas, its founders, its leaders and its militants. Zakkout has publicly stated, “Hamas is in my heart and on my head.”

Yet, following the rally, Zakkout took his bigoted rhetoric many steps forward by targeting not just Israelis, but Jews in general. Above photos he posted from the event, he wrote in Arabic, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!” He signed it, “Br. Sofian Zakkout.”

Zakkout’s rhetoric against Jews has gotten progressively worse. On a number of recent postings he made onto social media, he has referred to Jews as “apes and pigs.” This past February, he promoted a video on his Facebook page claiming “the Holocaust was faked.”

On June 1st, Zakkout posted a graphic on his Facebook page depicting the map of Israel draped in a Palestinian flag next to a militant holding a rocket launcher. Over the graphic, the caption reads, “As long as my heart beats, I believe PALESTINE will be FREE.” Under the graphic is written, “From the river to the sea in sha’a Allah,” which is a well-repeated calling for the destruction of the Jewish state from one side of Israel, which borders the Jordan River, to the other side bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

In the comments section of this particular post, someone going by the name of Amal Emerald responded to the post by writing in Arabic, “God willing.” The same individual then posted his own graphic in the comments. It was of a grotesque cartoon containing a worried-looking religious Jew hiding behind an animated tree with a bearded man brandishing a rifle coming towards them. The tree is speaking to the man in Arabic, saying “Oh Muslim! Oh Muslim! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.”

The cartoon is a rendering of a statement made in the Islamic Hadith, Sahih Muslim. The following English translation of this is from the website of the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS). It states, “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him…”

In Facebook, one is able to click a ‘like’ tab under someone’s posting, in order to show everyone viewing that post that he/she truly likes it. In Facebook, one is also able to delete someone’s posting on his/her page, if he/she considers it to be offensive in any way. If someone had deleted this cartoon, it would have been perfectly understandable, given the highly bigoted and violent nature of it.

Sofian Zakkout? He ‘liked’ the cartoon – a cartoon making light of murdering Jews.

Zakkout has supported the killing of Jews before. He did so this past November, when he took to social media to promote a video glorifying the recent stabbing attacks against Jewish Israelis perpetrated by Palestinian youth.

But the cartoon is different. The cartoon is not about Israelis. The cartoon is about Jews in general. It is about all Jews.

In true taqiyya form, Sofian Zakkout has, on one occasion or another, glibly stated that he does not harbor ill will towards the entire Jewish community, just Israelis. This disingenuous claim is used by many anti-Semites. In this regard, Zakkout is no exception.

However, Zakkout and his AMANA organization pose a viable threat to Jews. Law enforcement should monitor Zakkout’s activities with an eye towards stopping his dangerous incitement and shutting down his radical Islamist enterprise once and for all.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.