by Itamar Marcus and Yocheved T. Kolchin
Last March, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas appointed anti-Semitic PA TV Islamic teacher Imad Hamato to the post of dean of the Al-Azhar Institutes, a system of schools that prepare students for studies at the Al-Azhar University in Gaza. As dean of students, Hamato now has the opportunity to transmit his venomous anti-Semitism to Palestinian Authority youth.
In a class on Islam recently broadcast on official PA TV, Hamato repeated some classic anti-Semitic hate speech regarding Jews and money:
“They [the Jews] are usurers. See, the usury money and usurer banks, those who control the money in the world can be counted on one hand – a few individuals – and all of them belong to the Jewish world. They control the media, the money, the press, the resources, the plans.”
[Official PA TV, May 1, 2015 and May 12, 2017]
Abbas’ appointee also criticizes those in the Arab world who recognize Israel, saying Israel is “a cancerous tumor.”
Last month, Hamato appeared on PA TV accusing Israel of using “sex mania” as a weapon against Muslims:
“Israel’s global media has expanded, and its war against the Arabs and Muslims is through sex mania which it distributes globally. Israel had to use this sex mania, as we mentioned in a previous lesson, in order to destroy the spirit of Arabs and Muslims.”
[Official PA TV, June 12, 2015 and April 14, 2017]
In an earlier lesson on Islam broadcast twice on PA TV, Hamato also taught that Jews are responsible for all evil in the world:
“Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land…. An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it.”
[Official PA TV, Feb. 27, 2015 and Feb. 25, 2016]
The following is a longer quote from Imad Hamato’s TV lesson this month:
“Israel has worked hard to Judaize the land, [but] it did not stop at that. [Israel] worked to realize something else: the Judaization of culture, [so that] the Arab intellectual embraces the idea of acceptance of Israel as a recognized body and as an entity that has a right to live.
“Israel, the invading country, the cancerous tumor – which we have already called a cancerous tumor in the past – many intellectuals today talk about coexistence and offering our hands in peace, and [say] Israel is part of the region. The noblest Arabs in terms of their Arabness were those who spoke up and said: ‘Israel does not exist!’ Those who did not say that were ostracized.
“Now, whoever says that Israel should exist is met with approval… They [the Jews] are usurers. See, the usury money and usurer banks, those who control the money in the world can be counted on one hand – a few individuals – and all of them belong to the Jewish world. They control the media, the money, the press, the resources, the plans.”
[Official PA TV, May 1, 2015 and May 12, 2017]