M𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐌 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃-𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂: 𝐌𝐀𝐌𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐈’𝐒 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 ‘𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆’ 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟕 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐄

 

M.A. Rothman

A prominent Muslim Brotherhood-linked cleric just credited H∗mas’s October 7 massacre with electing two American politicians his movement now celebrates.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭-𝘈𝘲𝘴𝘢 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘡𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨," said 𝐀𝐥𝐢 𝐚𝐥-𝐐𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐢, speaking at an August conference in Turkey, using H∗mas’s own military code name for the attack that k!lled 𝟏,𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬.

 

Qaradaghi isn’t a fringe figure. He is secretary-general of the Qatar-based International Union for Muslim Scholars, founded by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, long regarded as the 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝. The group has been accused by Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE of using religious cover to facilitate terrorism; it denies the charge.

 

Qaradaghi didn’t stop at generalities. "𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 [𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳] 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘣𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘌𝘭-𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 $73 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯," he said. "𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭-𝘈𝘲𝘴𝘢 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥." He was crediting the massacre for El-Sayed’s upset in the Michigan Senate primary and for Mamdani’s ride to Gracie Mansion.

 

Both men have given him reason to sound triumphant. Mamdani campaigned on a promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, later admitting he lacks the power to do so, and defended the chant "𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐚." El-Sayed has vowed to withdraw U.S. military aid from Israel entirely. 𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬