Antisemitism in the Arab-Muslim World during the Gaza Strip War

Overview^[1]

• The Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, and the outbreak of the Gaza Strip War ignited the largest wave of antisemitism and hatred of Jews worldwide since the end of World War Two. That hatred is reflected in the Arab-Muslim world, from the Iranian-led resistance axis, with terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Houthis, to the so-called “moderate” Sunni countries such as Turkey and Qatar.
• In the Arab-Muslim world, antisemitism inundates newspaper articles and cartoons, statements by influential religious and political leaders, and the social media, where posters explicitly call for attacks on Jews. They use a combination of anti-Jewish themes from traditional Islamic texts and classic European antisemitic motifs, such as those in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
• The unprecedented Hamas terrorist attack and massacre on October 7, 2023, marked the first time that Hamas’ deeply ingrained hatred of Israel and the Jews was so fully and brutally understood and brought to bear.
• The objectives of this study are to explain the historical and religious roots of antisemitism in the Islamic world, identify significant centers which spread antisemitism today, and show how antisemitic propaganda tries to define the Jews. We use a precise definition of antisemitism as it refers the alleged collective negative traits of Jews, both in terms of their perceived spiritual and physical characteristics. It is the narrowest definition of antisemitism (meaning, for example, we do not consider the denial of Israel’s right to exist as antisemitism) and are only referring to very extreme statements about the collective negative characteristics of Jews. The definition we reference below as the international definition is broader and includes additional elements under the definition of antisemitism.^[2]
• In ITIC assessment, as long as the war in the Gaza Strip continues and as long as the Palestinians continue accusing Israel of committing “genocide,” Islamic antisemitism will carry on in high gear, as has been the case since October 7, 2023. Although antisemitism in the Arab-Muslim world has mainly remained in the media and on social networks, the pro-Palestinian riots carried out for the most part by Muslims in the Netherlands on November 7, 2024, in which Israeli soccer fans were attacked, suggest that Islamic antisemitism may lead to more acts of violence as the war continues. However, ending the war in Gaza does not guarantee a decrease in Islamic antisemitism. The narrative promoted by Hamas and the Palestinians surrounding the Gaza Strip War and its aftermath may keep antisemitism at high levels even after a ceasefire.

Introduction: The Sources of Arab-Muslim Antisemitism^[3]

• The roots of the hatred of Jews in Islam begin with the Prophet Muhammad, who founded Islam in the 7^th century. The Qur’an and Hadiths [the Islamic oral tradition] describe Muhammad’s encounters with Jewish tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, which initially involved cooperation but eventually shifted to conflict, leading to the portrayal of Jews as enemies of Islam. Islamic religious texts contain negative descriptions of Jews, including accusations of betrayal and arrogance.
• Islam’s encounter with the West exposed Muslims to elements of classic European Christian antisemitism, such as blood libels against Jews and, later on, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Jewish-Zionist settlement in the Land of Israel (the Yishuv), perceived by Muslims as Islamic land, and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel, intensified antisemitic sentiments in the Arab-Muslim world as a tool in the struggle against Zionism.
• The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas originated, incorporated antisemitic rhetoric in its “struggle” against Zionism and the State of Israel. Sayyid Qutb, an influential Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, frequently employed antisemitic motifs alongside Qur’anic and Hadith quotations to accuse Jews of sabotaging Islam and family values. Likewise, the teachings of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, regarded as the foremost spiritual authority for the Muslim Brotherhood in general and Hamas in particular, included strong antisemitic concepts, attributing to Jews hereditary negative traits and an unchanging, eternal nature.^[4]

Part One: Antisemitism during the Gaza Strip War

• The Hamas attack and massacre on October 7, 2023, was a brutal implementation of the antisemitic ideology which has characterized Hamas since its inception. However, the Islamic antisemitic themes expressed since then have not differed from those previously prevalent in the Islamic world (key factors and core motifs). The most significant change has been its unprecedented scale, mushrooming especially on social media, which incites violence, primarily from Muslim communities in Western countries, for example the pro-Palestinian riots in the Netherlands which targeted Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on the night of November 7, 2024.^[5] In addition, since Hamas is focused on fighting and its media and propaganda channels are not fully functional, the leadership of organized antisemitism has been taken over by Sunni states and organizations typically considered moderate, such as Qatar, Turkey and the al-Azhar religious institution in Egypt.

Hamas

Antisemitism as ideology

• Antisemitism has been a core element of Hamas’ ideology since its inception. The Hamas Charter of 1988 includes explicit, crude antisemitic elements, incorporating myths from classic European antisemitism, with references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion side-by-side with anti-Jewish motifs as they appear in the Qur’an and the Hadiths. The Charter describes the Jewish people in a strongly negative light, portraying them as plotting to control the world by dominating international institutions such as the UN and the media, and organizations such as the Freemasons and Rotary.
• According to the Charter, the Jews are responsible for the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and both World Wars (Article 22: “No war occurs anywhere without their hands behind it”). Jews are described as identifying women as the “weak link” in Muslim society, attempting to influence them to stray from the path of Islam, and are also accused of behaving “like Nazis,” war criminals who extort their victims.
• The Charter cites the well-known Stone and Tree Hadith: “The Hour [of Judgment Day] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, and until the Jew hides behind the stones and the trees, and [then] the stones and trees will say: ‘O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.’”^[6]
• However, Hamas often uses double-speak, saying one thing in Arabic and its opposite if more suited to Western ears, softening or omitting antisemitic messages when they might conflict with its interests. For example, no antisemitic rhetoric appears in Hamas’ platform for the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, and English-speaking Hamas representatives generally avoid public antisemitic expressions.
• Antisemitic concepts are also key to Hamas’ educational system, from preschools to the Islamic University of Gaza, a Hamas-affiliated institution where many of its leaders and military operatives studied.^[7] Antisemitism is rife in Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks, which are used in the Gaza Strip.^[8]
• Mahmoud al-Zahar, a former member of Hamas’ political bureau and former foreign minister of Isma’il Haniyeh’s Palestinian national unity government (2006-2007), is one of Hamas’ most vocal promoters of antisemitic rhetoric. In 2008 he published a book entitled [The Jews Have] No Future Among the Nations, in which he compared Judaism to a foreign body which the human body rejects. He argued that Jews were expelled from various European countries throughout history because they were ungrateful and “sucked the blood and stole the money of their hosts.” He predicted an even darker future for them, anticipating their annihilation when Islam would prevail, and expressed confidence that Jews would be expelled from all of “Palestine.”^[9]

Antisemitism during the war

• The consequences of Hamas’ antisemitic concepts were obvious in the brutality of the Hamas terrorist attack and massacre of October 7, 2023. Their atrocities of rape, burning people alive, mutilation and beheading were not spontaneous. Hamas materials which have been seized since the start of the war indicate that the bestiality of their attack was premeditated and targeted both soldiers and civilians, “justifying” them in the name of Islam. For example:
  • A handwritten note found in the pocket of a commander from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, apparently intended to be read to his operatives before the attack, included the following: “Know that your enemy is a disease with no cure other than decapitation and tearing out hearts and livers. Attack them and deal with them as did the sword of Abu Suleiman;^[10] judge them according to the decree of Saad. In the name of the God of Khaybar, we begin [the assault] and strike^[11] with the sword of Zulfiqar.”^[12]

• A booklet was discovered in the Gaza Strip whose cover depicted an ultra-Orthodox Jew inside a tunnel being executed with a sword.^[13] The booklet, entitled “On the Path of al-Halabi,” was published in August 2021 and written by Tareq Abd al-Fattah Yahya, who is serving a prison sentence for stabbing and critically wounding an IDF soldier. The booklet was published by the al-Quds Foundation for Martyrs and Prisoners, an organization affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Iran (Quds News Agency, August 31, 2021).

• In previous rounds of fighting, Hamas’ al-Aqsa radio and television stations would often refer to IDF soldiers as quwat ahl al-dhimma (“forces of the dhimmi,” the second-class status of the Jews under Islamic rule) and other derogatory terms. Hamas’ radio and television stations are currently no longer operational, so Hamas’ media campaign is conducted primarily through various websites and on multiple platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Telegram, as well as sites affiliated with Hamas), which represent themselves as “independent,” such as Quds News Network, Shehab News Agency, and the Palestinian Media Center.
• In view of the possibility that they could be censured or closed if they use blatantly antisemitic incitement, Hamas-affiliated media outlets focus on portraying the suffering and victimhood of Palestinians caused by “Jewish aggression.” However, there are still instances of antisemitic incitement against Judaism itself. For example, an article entitled “Report on Israeli massacres – readings in the doctrine of genocide,” argued that Israel’s [alleged] “massacres and killings” were directly the product of Jewish religious doctrine (the Torah and Talmud), which [allegedly] permits the killing of Arabs to prevent any demographic threat to “Greater Israel.” The article included a quote from the Torah claiming, “Anyone who sheds the blood of a non-Jew is as though he has made an offering to God.”^[14]

Qatar

Ways and means

• Qatar is a United States ally and host to one the American Central Command in the Middle East’s most important air bases. It also gives financial support to academic institutions in the United States and other Western countries. However, Qatar is also host to the Hamas leadership and representatives of other terrorist organizations, such as the Taliban.
• For years the Qatari media have been as a central source of blatant antisemitic incitement. Especially prominent is the daily al-Quds al-Arabi, which was acquired by Qatar in July 2013, a month after Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad became emir of Qatar. Cartoons published in the paper regularly depict the stereotypical caricature of an Orthodox Jew with a long crooked nose and beard. Some of these cartoons also include classic antisemitic motifs from Christian or Islamic sources, such as blaming Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus or using the “stone and tree” Hadith about Muslims fighting Jews. Additionally, some cartoons portray Israel or its citizens as repellant or noxious animals, such as spiders or ants, motifs used historically in Europe.^[15]
• Qatari newspapers also promote conspiracy theories about the Jewish control of the world. An article entitled “The Rothschild Family or State” argued that throughout history Jews had developed manipulative financial capabilities which enhanced their power and control over the world. The article claimed that since the Middle Ages and over several generations, Jews infiltrated key centers of power in the countries where they lived, began steering decision-making according to their interests and were involved in numerous political revolutions. The article focused on the Rothschild family as an example, stating that its members spread across five major European nations, dominated their economies and profited from wars between them, including by spreading false rumors to capitalize on stock market fluctuations (al-Raya, June 3, 2020).^[16]

During the war

• After the outbreak of the war in Gaza, antisemitic articles were published in the Qatari press. For example the Qatari columnist Abdullah al-Amadi, a former media advisor to Qatar’s minister of education and former deputy editor of the daily al-Sharq wrote an article relating to the following (al-Sharq, March 14, 2024):^[17]
  • The hatred, resentment and envy the Jews feel toward Muslims are deeply rooted and have not changed since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Jews are cunning, deceitful and untrustworthy, and therefore Muslims should avoid showing any flexibility toward them or waste time negotiating with them.
  • Like their ancestors, Jews seek to harm all Muslims: “The Jews of the past are the Jews of today. They appear in modern form and have strayed even further from the laws of [the Prophet] Moses, and from all monotheistic religious laws, just as their predecessors did in [the city of] Medina or centuries earlier, and have become Zionists with no connection to religion, morals or values. Furthermore, their hostility, barbarism and crimes against the Muslims in Gaza have intensified, and they intend to harm every Muslim wherever possible. Therefore, we find that the many references to the Children of Israel in the Qur’an are meant to warn Muslims in every era about the danger of this group, filled with hatred for humanity…Even Moses, may peace be upon him, did not escape their cunning and dishonest character, so how could others fare any better?”
  • The war in Gaza is described as a reenactment of Jewish tribal plans against the Muslim community in the Arabian Peninsula in the time of Muhammad: “What is happening in Gaza is an exact replica of what the leaders of the [Jewish tribe] Banu Nadir, and later the Banu Qurayza, planned against the Muslim community in Medina. They follow the same path and adopt the same way of thinking, aiming to uproot and destroy Muslims completely.”
• In another article published in al-Sharq entitled “The Jews are the most hostile to the true believers,”^[18] the author claimed that a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas has yet to be completed because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was [allegedly] treacherous and deceitful, characteristic of Jews. According to the article, “Do not trust the tricks of the Jews, their cunning, resentment, cowardice and deceit have not changed and never will, because their hearts are naturally inclined toward betrayal, deception and fraud, and they love only themselves” (al-Sharq, July 3, 2024).

Egypt

The al-Azhar religious institution

• Al-Azhar University, based in Egypt, is the foremost religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world. Its leader, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, is known for his extremist positions regarding Israel. Since the start of the war, al-Azhar has expressed total support for Hamas, including the October 7, 2023 massacre. Al-Azhar’s global center for online fatwas issued a religious ruling predicting Israel’s eventual demise. In the ruling, al-Azhar expressed support for Hamas’ terrorist attacks, calling them “resistance actions” and stating that “the term civilians does not apply to Zionist settlers of the occupied land,” effectively giving religious approval for targeting them (al-Azhar global center Facebook page, October 18, 2023).
• Al-Azhar also uses pointed antisemitic rhetoric. Senior figures at the university, including Mohammed Omar al-Qadi, dean of the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies, and Abbas Shuman, the former deputy of al-Azhar and now general supervisor of fatwa committees at the institution, have made harsh statements against Israel. They have called Jews “descendants of apes and pigs,” “murderers of prophets,” “cursed” and “enemies of humanity,” and have wished for their annihilation. Al-Qadi wrote, “Allah, bring annihilation upon the cursed, treacherous [Jews], the murderers of prophets, rulers and decent people, as well as those who helped them and agreed with their actions…” Shuman added, “I knew the Zionists had no morals, but I did not imagine they were filthier and more despicable than rabid dogs… Rejoice at the imminent end of the descendants of pigs.” Another al-Azhar scholar, Dr. Ahmad Karima, suggested relocating all Jews of the world to the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan in Russia, which he claimed would also solve the “Palestine” issue.^[19]

Turkey

Before the war

• Antisemitism has existed in Turkey for years, predating the establishment of the State of Israel and the rise of the Islamist movement. In 1934 pogroms were carried out against the Jews in Thrace, Turkey. In 1942 special taxes were imposed on Turkish Jews, as well as on other minorities. The Islamist parties led by Necmettin Erbakan (Erdogan’s predecessor as the leader of the Islamic movement in Turkish politics) used blatant antisemitic motifs in their ideology as early as the 1970s.
• Antisemitism intensified following the rise to power of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first as prime minister (from 2003) and later as president (from 2014). Jews are often blamed for negative events, such as rising prices and the devaluation of the Turkish lira. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2015 Global Report, over 70% of the Turkish population held antisemitic views.^[20] Given the current circumstances, the figure has most probably increased.

During the war

• One aspect of Turkish antisemitism during the current war is the threat it poses to the small Jewish community in Turkey. Calls have been made to accuse community members of treason and/or to confiscate or expel dual Turkish-Israeli citizens and seize their assets.
• The Turkish president has often made antisemitic statements, particularly during crises in Turkish-Israeli relations or armed conflicts between Israel and Hamas (Times of Israel, May 19, 2021). Since the beginning of the current war, Erdogan has expressed support for Hamas and been extremely critical of Israel, including making antisemitic remarks, and has referred to Prime Minister Netanyahu as “the führer of our time” (NTV, January 19, 2024).

• State-owned media, including the public broadcasting corporation TRT and the government news agency Anadolu, lead the anti-Israel campaign, which at times crosses into blatant antisemitism. However, crude antisemitism can be found in other media outlets aligned with Erdogan’s Islamist government. On December 8, 2023, Yeni Şafak, one of Turkey’s largest newspapers and closely aligned with Erdogan, published the headline, “3,000 years of killing with their perverse faith: The world must eradicate the virus.”^[21]

• The newspaper Adimler Degrisi, which represents itself as dealing with “culture, thought and, politics,” published a cartoon on January 12, 2024, captioned “Capitalism as a tool for Jewish hegemony.” It appeared as part of an article which stated that “the birth of capitalism paved the way for Jews to control the world” and that “the capitalist Jews took over Europe. In a short time, they took control of the wealth that European adventurers and tyrants brought back from the colonies.”^[22]

Iran

• Officially, the Islamic regime in Iran differentiates between Judaism as a religion, which it deems legitimate, and Zionism, which it completely rejects, viewing Israel as the “little Satan” and a “cancerous growth” which has to be excised. In practice, however, the regime sometimes blurs the distinction between Judaism and Zionism and between Jews and Zionists. In Iran, Jews are also depicted as enemies of humanity who used their wealth to manipulate and control global politics, economy and culture, with themes from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and blood libels alleging that Jews use the blood of gentiles in rituals.^[23]
• In February 2023, the front page of Javan, a newspaper affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, featured Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Aliyev’s picture showed him with a stereotypical long nose, intending to protest the strengthening of security ties between Azerbaijan and Israel (i24News, February 2023).
• Antisemitic memes intensify during escalations, especially since the beginning of the Gaza Strip War, with media propaganda and incitement. According to Khabar Online news, “throughout history, criminal Jews have always proved that they are the foremost enemies of the front of truth [sic] [Muslims]” and “not a day goes by without their committing acts of corruption. In fact, their primary activity against humanity is corrupting society, politics and the economy, and murder, looting, rebellions, heresy, crime and genocide” (Khabar Online, August 7, 2024).
• Iranian media, including Fars News, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), published a cartoon of a stereotypical Jew as a vampire, his fangs dripping blood, with a Palestinian child in his claws above the Gaza Strip. The cartoon first appeared during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 and was resurrected for the Gaza Strip War.

The Houthis

• The Houthi Movement in Yemen (Ansar Allah) is the only group in the Islamic world with antisemitic elements in its symbols. The Houthi slogan is: “Allah is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.”

• Houthi spokesmen regard the use of antisemitism as self-evident. In a Friday sermon at a mosque in Sanaa n December 2020, Dr. Taha al-Mutawakkil, Yemen’s minister of health, said “Satan and the Jews are like twins; they are two sides of the same coin. Satan is operated by the Jews, and the Jews are operated by Satan… the Jews are devils in human form.” He also accused Jews of spreading drugs in Arab and Muslim societies to destroy them and engaging in the sex trade for the same purpose.^[24]
• The trend continued after the outbreak of the war, when Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi was quoted as saying, “The Jews celebrate the slogan ‘Death to the Arabs.’ According to their culture and beliefs, Arabs are nothing more than ‘animals'” (Yemeni News Agency, July 25, 2024).
• Hazem al-Asad, a member of the Houthi Shura Council and the Supreme Political Council, published a picture of Hitler with the quote, “I could have killed all the Jews in the world, but I left some alive so that the world would know why I killed them” (Hazem al-Asad’s X account, October 29, 2024). Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, another Political Council member, wrote that the objective of the Jews was to undermine Muslims’ faith and turn them into infidels. He claimed, “They do not want us to become Jews. They say in their documents (called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion) that they don’t want Muslims or Christians to be Jews because they are unworthy; rather, they should become infidels.” According to al-Houthi, the Jews aspire to global domination, behave like animals and are dedicated to the destruction of civilization (Mohammed Ali al-Houthi’s Telegram channel, November 2, 2023).^[25]

Jordan

• Similarly to Egypt’s al-Azhar, antisemitism is also rife in Jordan, another country with a peace treaty with Israel: Palestinian writer Ghassan Mustafa al-Shami, who often contributes to Hamas-affiliated sites, wrote that “the Zionist Jews are the most distorted and polluted creatures on earth. They are the offspring of apes and pigs who worship Satan… [and are] masters of witchcraft, immoral and charlatans. The Jews are giants of demons and devils. They are cheats, liars and deceivers. It is the most cursed and impure nation ever created in the world” (al-Dustour, May 17, 2023).^[26] After the outbreak of the war, the Gosta coffee shop chain offered its customers a Holocaust Coffee, with a hand clothed in a Palestinian flag flambeeing marshmallows with Stars of David on them. According to one comment, “Hitler was the barista” (Hussein Abd al-Hussein’s X account, November 16, 2023).

   
Right: Ad for Holocaust coffee (Hussein Abd al-Hussein’s X account, November 16, 2023).
Left: Jew conducting bleeding letters (al-Ghad, November 7, 2023)

Azerbaijan

• Manifestations of antisemitism can also be found in Azerbaijan, a Muslim country considered an important security ally of Israel, primarily because of shared hostility toward Iran. The website real-israil.com is a financially well-supported Azeri media outlet which publishes daily antisemitic content and support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.

   
Right: The site logo. Left: “The International Court of Justice is under the influence of Jewish pollution [i.e., which is why it does not punish Israel] (real.israil.com, February 24, 2024)

The social networks^[27]

• Social media serve as the primary channels for spreading antisemitism around the globe, and recent conflicts have led to a significant increase. Some platforms have policies for removing antisemitic content, but such policies are not always translated into action. According to a study by CYBERWELL, an organization that monitors antisemitism on Facebook, TikTok, X, Instagram and YouTube, the average rate of antisemitic post removal was only 32.1% in 2023, with TikTok removing just 15% of content identified as antisemitic.

• The CYBERWELL study was based on an analysis of 6,000 texts in English and Arabic which appeared on the five largest social media platforms in 2023. It found a 400% increase in antisemitic posts in October 2023 compared to the previous month. In November and December 2023 there was a gradual decrease, but the numbers remained significantly higher than those prior to the October 7 attack and massacre.
• According to the study, the leading antisemitic themes were “Jews control the world and dictate the global order” (ranking first on Facebook); the Rothschild conspiracy theory (ranking first on Instagram); “Jews are the enemy” (TikTok and X); and “Jews are the ‘synagogue of Satan'” (YouTube). According to the findings, a major change from the period before October 7 was the dramatic rise in texts calling for violence against Jews, appearing in 61.2% of all texts analyzed.

Part Two: Antisemitism Reflected in Arabic Cartoons^[28]

• Before the Gaza Strip War, Islamic antisemitic cartoons usually depicted the “classic” conspiracy theories that accuse Jews of plotting and betrayal. However, since the beginning of the war, with the extensive destruction in Gaza, the Jews are now being depicted as brutal and feral. Stereotypes are also emphasized, such as “Jewish noses” and the beards of the ultra-Orthodox, and comparisons are made to various animals with negative connotations, such as snakes, rats, crocodiles and maggots, as well as hyenas and other predators.

   
Right: Arab News, Saudi Arabia, November 27, 2023. Left: al-Sharq al-Awsat, Britain, November 15, 2023

   
Right: “The lies of Jewish propaganda,” al-Watan, Qatar, November 20, 2023. Left: Hespress, Morocco, November 3, 2023

Part Three: The Antithetical “Anti-Zionist Good Jews”

Original Islamic sources

• In addition to emphasizing stereotypes of Orthodox Jews, Arab and Islamic antisemitism also identifies “good Jews,” who identify as anti-Zionist, whether Orthodox or from the (primarily American) political left. Thus occasionally a distinction is made between Orthodox Jews and Zionists, although often Orthodox Jews are still associated with Israel and “despised” Judaism.

     
Right: “J’accuse, we warned you,” al-Bilad, Bahrain, November 20, 2023. Left: Akhbar al-Yom, Egypt, November 2, 2023)

• In Iran, efforts are sometimes made to separate Zionism from “good Jews.” That is why representatives of Neturei Karta, an anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, receive official welcome when conducting solidarity visits to Iran. In January 2020 Neturei Karta representatives attended the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander; Iran’s small Jewish community has a designated seat in the Iranian parliament.
• Since the war in the Gaza Strip began, Hamas-affiliated news sites have also noted the existence of “good Jews.” The Palestinian Media Center published a photo of Neturei Karta members holding a burning Israeli flag, with a report entitled, “American Rabbi

• : Israel has no connection to Judaism, and we pray for its demise” (Palestinian Media Center, October 20, 2023).

Appendix One: The Sources of Antisemitism in the Arab-Muslim World^[29]

Early Islamic sources

• Anti-Jewish sentiments in early and Medieval Islam were mainly the product of the encounters between Judaism and Islam, initially in the Arabian Peninsula and later across the Middle East and North Africa, which were conquered by Arab forces. Muhammad took elements from the two monotheistic religions which preceded him and recognized his debt to Moses and Jesus, but his personal encounters in the Arabian Peninsula were mainly with the Jewish communities, particularly in the city of Medinah. After fleeing Mecca, where he was born and faced persecution, to Medinah in 622 CE (the hijra), he formed fragile alliances with the city’s three Jewish tribes, the Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza, and Banu Qaynuqa. Their cooperation lasted for about a year and a half, ending, according to Islamic accounts, because the Jews allegedly did not meet their commitments. The resulting violent conflict ended in a Muslim victory, the expulsion of two of the Jewish tribes from the peninsula and the execution of the men of the third tribe, the women and children sold into slavery. Jewish tribes in the Khaybar region were also attacked and defeated. From then until the prophet’s death in 632 CE, the Jews of Arabia were viewed as enemies of Islam, akin to the polytheist pagans of Mecca.^[30]
• Such events explain why the Qur’an contains numerous hostile references to Jews. The rhetoric is considerably harsher than that directed against Christians, focusing on negative traits attributed to Jews collectively, such as betrayal, refusal to accept Islam, alleged conspiracies against Muhammad (including assassination plots), hostility toward Christianity, denial of the Torah and the prophets,^[31] pride, claims of being the “chosen people” and “children of God” and stinginess, to name but a few. According to Islam, possession of such traits merits punishment in hell.^[32] Since it was the seminal period of Islam, the words and events are significant and with implications for the future, such as a Hadith attributed to Muhammad stating, “All Jews are necessarily like their brethren from the Arabian Peninsula.”^[33]
• The second encounter between Muslims and Jews occurred in the conquered lands, where Jews were a small minority and most local monotheists were Christians. Islam’s primary missionary efforts, both persuasive and coercive, were directed at Christians, who were Islam’s main rivals, especially the Byzantine Christians who lived beyond the borders of the Islamic empire. As a result, it was Christians and not Jews whose existential choice was “Islam or the sword.” Instead, they held the status of “protected people” (ahl al-dhimma), which granted them second-class citizen protection for their lives, bodies and property, along with the freedom to practice their religion within certain restrictions, and the necessity to pay a special tax (jizya).
• That situation gave Jews a more secure position than they had in Medieval Europe, where they faced persecution, expulsion and forced conversion. Relatively speaking, Jews in the Islamic world enjoyed the religious tolerance extended by a ruling group to a subjugated one which recognizes its inferiority. Additionally, in popular culture, many shared practices existed, such as the veneration of saints and holy sites. An exception was Iran, where, influenced by Zoroastrian traditions, Jews were deemed physically impure and contact with them was forbidden.
• The encounters with Jews in early Islam and during the Middle Ages provided theological and social components that contributed to the development of modern Islamic antisemitism. However, it is unlikely that the animosity would have taken its current form without the later encounters with the West, Zionism and the Israeli-Arab conflict.^[34]

European sources of Islamic antisemitism

• Contact with the West caused several negative changes in the Jewish image within Islamic countries. The Catholic Church and its missions operating in Muslim lands spread the idea of the blood libel against Jews, as well as the concept of a global connection between Freemasonry and Jews. By the late 19^th century, the libels of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion had been added into the mix. Although exposure to European antisemitism did not have immediate negative effects in the Islamic world, its consequences would emerge over time.^[35]

The radicalization of antisemitism after the establishment of the State of Israel

• The rise of Zionism and Jewish claims to land considered Muslim waqf territory, what is known as the “Muslim endowment,” and especially their successful transition from a subordinate “protected” status to de facto rulers, not only over Muslim land, including Jerusalem, but over Muslims themselves, was seen as an intolerable reversal of roles. It led to an outburst of modern antisemitism, a combination of both early Islamic sources and later European additions.
• The success of the Jews in “Palestine” meant their negative image was bolstered with elements of cruelty and arrogance, perceived as coming from viewing themselves as the people chosen by God over all others. The global mobilization of Jews in support of the Jewish state was seen as evidence of an international Jewish conspiracy in the spirit of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The use of Western antisemitic motifs did not contradict the theme prevalent in Islamic antisemitism which saw Jews as tools of the West to spread Western corruption in the heart of the Islamic world.
• The leader of Arab antisemitism after Israel’s independence was, ironically, the relatively secular Pan-Arab movement led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser did not hesitate to use Islamic historical elements, including Qur’an verses, to give his hatred depth and historical continuity. Egypt’s nationalized film industry emphasized Jewish greed in films about the Prophet’s time, depicting them as Shylock, with a tendency toward immorality and profiting from it (e.g., fathers selling their daughters), motifs which do not appear in the Qur’an. As a third world movement which identified itself as “socialist,” it was convenient for Nasserism to associate Jews with despised imperialism and capitalism.^[36]
• The “struggle” against Zionism was also a feature of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, which even established a volunteer unit to fight in Israel’s War of Independence alongside the Egyptian army. Hassan al- Bana, the Brotherhood’s founder, focused primarily on the threat of Western corruption rather than on the Jews specifically. Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, however, who was executed by the Egyptian regime in 1966, became a central figure in promoting antisemitism within the movement. In an article entitled “Our war with the Jews,” published in the Islamic weekly al-Dawah on November 20, 1951, Qutb expounded a long list of antisemitic complaints.
• According to Qutb, who often quoted the Qur’an and the Hadiths, integrating motifs from European antisemitism to strengthen his argument, Jews sow dissent to distance Muslims from their faith and destroy Islam, using deceit and impersonating Muslims to achieve their objectives. He described Jews as people who “killed, slaughtered and hacked the prophets to pieces with saws [sic],” so that nothing could be expected but bloodshed, and would permit the use of any filthy means which could be used to promote their plots and evil schemes. Jews, he wrote, feel they are a branch cut off from the Tree of Life and are waiting only for humanity to suffer catastrophe. “They hate humanity, [therefore] they suffer the punishments of hatred and anger and awaken the hostility dividing humanity, which they fuel among nations. They incite wars to make profits, igniting within them the flame of their hatred, which will never be extinguished. In this way, they take control and cause destruction… This evil is awakened only by their vile egoism”; “…only because they begrudge the blessings that Allah has sent from above to whomever He wishes among His servants!”
• Among the Muslim Brotherhood’s clerics, especially within Hamas, Yusuf al-Qaradawi was highly influential until his death in 2022. He attributed numerous negative, unchanging hereditary traits to Jews and was the cleric who issued a fatwah permitting Hamas to carry out suicide bombing attacks (termed “sacrifice attacks”) against Israeli civilians, without distinguishing between soldiers and civilians.
• He also described the Jews as atheists, materialistic, promoters of moral corruption and bestial sexuality, and responsible for the destruction of the institution of family. He wrote, “Behind the atheistic, materialistic trend stands a Jew. Behind the trend of bestial sexuality stands a Jew… Behind the destruction of the family and the dissolution of the sacred bonds of [marriage] within society… stands a Jew. Today, the war with them has become more brutal and open. That is because [the Jews] emerged from all directions and declared the establishment of the State of Israel…Their greed reached from afar to the Temple. Today, they are only a few steps away from it, and their greed will not cease unless Islam defeats them.”^[37]
• Yusuf al-Qaradawi, until he died in 2022, was the most prominent legal-religious figure in the Muslim Brotherhood in general and Hamas in particular. He also attributed numerous negative, inherited collective traits and an unchanging nature to the Jews and permitted Hamas to carry out suicide bombing attacks (which he called “self-sacrifice”) against civilians, men, women and children.^[38]
• There was antisemitism among the Arabs living in the British Mandate far before Israel’s establishment. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was a prominent figure who allied with Hitler in Berlin during World War Two, hoping that German forces would eliminate the Jewish presence in Palestine. Izzat Darwaza, Husseini’s associate and a Palestinian educator and nationalist activist, extracted from biblical history the “Jewish obsession” with conquering the land and the brutality they exhibited toward the Canaanites, whom he claimed were the ancestors of the Palestinians. For Darwaza, this alleged brutality explained the Jews’ success with violence and the arrogance they showed towards others as a “chosen people.” He claimed that the Qur’an and Hadiths described the Jews’ deceit, cunning, self-love and corruption.^[39]

Holocaust denial

• Attempts to deny or minimize the scale of the Holocaust emerged within the Palestinian national movement between 1945 and 1948 as part of efforts to neutralize Zionist efforts to mobilize global public opinion in favor of immigration to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state. Following the shock of the 1948 Arab defeat and Israel’s founding, doubts about the scale of the Holocaust spread in Arab public opinion, along with anger over its [alleged] “cynical exploitation” by Zionists. In the 1980s, such perceptions were further reinforced by the so-called “scientific information” provided by Western Holocaust deniers like Roger Garaudy, Robert Faurisson, and David Irving, whose writings were quickly translated into Arabic. Soviet influence also promoted Holocaust minimization, as seen in the doctoral thesis Mahmoud Abbas wrote at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of People’s Friendship in Moscow in 1982, which discussed Zionist-Nazi relations.^[40]

Click https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en to subscribe and receive the ITIC's daily updates as well as its other publications. ↑

1. For a working definition of antisemitism, seehttps://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-of-antisemitism

2. For further information, see Appendix 1.

3. See in Hebrew רובינשטיין-שמר, נסיה וברטל, שאול, הראש של חמאס – היהודים ומדינת ישראל בהגותו של השיח' יוסף אלקרדאוי, חיפה, 2022, עמ' 86-80.

4. For further information, see the March 2024 ITIC report, "Support for Hamas in Belgium and the Netherlands since the Outbreak of the Swords of Iron War."

5. For further information, see the March 2006 ITIC report, "The Hamas Charter (1988): Overtly anti-Semitic and anti-West, radical Islamic in outlook, it stresses Hamas’ ideological commitment to destroy the State of Israel through a long-term holy war (jihad)", and https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

6. For further information, see the September 2020 ITIC report, "The Islamic University of Gaza, A Hamas Stronghold, Has Been Supported by the EU for Years," and Jensen, M.I. 'Re-Islamising' Palestinian Society 'From Below': Hamas and Higher Education in Gaza. Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal 5.1 (2006) 57-74

7. Hebrew only, מחקר של ד"ר ארנון גרויס ממאי 2024: "ישראל, היהודים והשלום בספרי הלימוד ומדריכי המורים שבשימוש של אונר”א ביהודה, שומרון, מזרח ירושלים ורצועת עזה"

8. For further information, see http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2676.htm and the November 2010 ITIC report, https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/hamas-senior-mahmoud-al-zahar-recently-given-vicious-anti-semitic-speech-justify-elimination-israel-deportation-jews-entire-territory-palestine/

9. The nickname of Khalid ibn al-Walid, one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, considered one of the greatest military commanders in Islamic history.

10. According to Islamic tradition, Zulfiqar is the sword that Muhammad gave to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam and Muhammad's son-in-law. According to tradition, Muhammad assigned him to lead the Islamic army in the Battle of Khaybar against the Jews, and he used this sword in the battle.

11. For further information, see the January 2024 ITIC report, " Documents brought back from the Gaza Strip indicate that Hamas premeditated its atrocities against Israelis and to kidnap and maltreat them."

12. The booklet was located in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza Strip War and the IDF authorized its publication ↑

13. https://qudsn.co/post/205759

14. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?5444

15. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?5264

16. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?6097

17. Qur'an Sura 5, verse 82.

18. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?5975

19. Betsy Penso, Antisemitism: The “New Normal” in Turkey, Turkeyscope: Insights on Turkish Affairs, Vol. 8, No. 1, January - February 2024. https://dayan.org/content/antisemitism-new-normal-turkey

20. https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001464594

21. https://adimlardergisi.com/2024/01/12/yahudiligin-hegemonya-aleti-olarak-kapitalizm/

22. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?5812

23. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?287_s

24. https://www.memri.org/jttm/yemens-ansar-allah-movement-houthis-promotes-antisemitism-between-attacks-israel

25. https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?5836

26. Findings based on the CYBERWELL annual report for 2023. The organization monitors antisemitism on the social networks. https://cyberwell.org/reports

27. Pictures from Dehumanization of Jews and Demonization of Zionism and Israel, Anti-Defamation League publication, December21, 2023.https://www.adl.org/resources/report/antisemitism-arab-cartoons-during-israel-hamas-war-chronology-dehumanization-jews

28. For further information, see the March 2008 ITIC report, "Contemporary Arab-Muslim anti-Semitism, its Significance and Implications (Updated to March 2008)." https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/18475/

29. Sivanעמנואל סיון, אנטישמיות מוסלמית – אתגר ודרכי תגובה אפשריות, המכון לתכנון מדיניות עם יהודי, דצמבר 2009, ירושלים, עמ' 7., Hebrew only.

30. According to Islam, the Jews "rewrote" the Torah, which asserted that in the future Muhammad would appear as the last prophet. Note: The prophets do not appear in the Torah.

31. Hebrew only לפירוט הפסוקים האנטי-יהודיים בקוראן: הקוראן, בתרגומו של אורי רובין, אוניברסיטת תל-אביב – ההוצאה לאור, 2005, עמ' 573 (במפתח העניינים).

32. Sivan, p. 7.

33. Sivan, pp. 7-9.

34. Sivan, pp. 9-10.

35. Sivan, pp. 10-12.

36. Quotation from the Hebrew, העתיד שייך לדת האסלאם ומלחמתנו ביהודים/סייד קוטב, מרכז דיין והוצאת מערכות (2021), תרגם שאול ברטל.

37. רובינשטיין-שמר וברטל p. 110, Hebrew only.

38. Hebrew only, יהושע פורת, צמיחת התנועה הלאומית הערבית הפלסטינית 1918–1929, עמ' 48.

39. Sivan, p. 14, Hebrew only.

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