Simon Wiesenthal Center Commends Belated Decision by Germany to Indict Danish Imam Who Called for Annihilation of Jews at Leading Berlin Mosque

February 27, 2015

 

It was outrageous that German authorities stood by last summer while calls to ‘ kill the Jews’ were heard on the streets of German cities.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended German authorities for belatedly indicting a Danish Imam, Abu Bilal Ismail, who called in Berlin for the killing of Zionist Jews last July at Berlin’s Al-Nur mosque last July.

 

“During our meetings in Berlin months ago, we urged the German Minister of Justice and Ministry of Interior officials to take action against all those who called for the death of Jews during last summer’s Israel/Hamas confrontation, including and especially this Imam, said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO who was accompanied by the Wiesenthal Center Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels. (See photo with German Justice Minister Heiko Maas).

“It was outrageous that German authorities stood by last summer while calls to ‘ kill the Jews’ were heard on the streets of German cities. This indictment is a belated but welcome development. It is long overdo for authorities in Europe to use existing laws to hold accountable anyone who justifies attacks against Jews. If Europe’s Jews are to have any hope of living in peace in Paris, Copenhagen, or Berlin, then authorities must aggressively take action against those who incite anti-Jewish violence and terror,” Rabbi Cooper added.

 

Ismail, an imam from the Grimhoj Mosque in the city of Aarhus, was filmed saying during the sermon, according to a translation from Arabic prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“Count them and kill them to the very last one. Don’t spare a single one of them. Make them suffer terribly.”

 

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).