Dutch imam fired after visiting Israel, meeting President Herzog
A mosque in the Dutch city of Alkmaar fired its imam after he visited Israel with other Muslim faith leaders from Europe, the institution’s board said on Tuesday. The Bilal Mosque in Alkmaar told the Islam Omroep, a Dutch-Muslim news site, that Imam Youssef Msibih was “immediately removed” from his position. The dismissal comes just […]
A mosque in the Dutch city of Alkmaar fired its imam after he visited Israel with other Muslim faith leaders from Europe, the institution’s board said on Tuesday.
The Bilal Mosque in Alkmaar told the Islam Omroep, a Dutch-Muslim news site, that Imam Youssef Msibih was “immediately removed” from his position.
The dismissal comes just days after Msibih participated in a delegation of 15 imams and Muslim leaders from France, Italy, Holland, Belgium and the U.K. who paid a rare visit to Israel.
During the trip, Msibih made headlines on social media for singing an Arabic-language rendition of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah.
The delegation met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and visited sites connected to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on Israel, including Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza Strip. The trip was organised by the European Leadership Network, a pro-Israel policy group.
In his meeting with the delegation, Herzog praised their visit as a “sign of moral courage.” He thanked the group for “standing up against hatred” and expressed hope for peace, the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and relief for civilians suffering in the war zone.
French Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, a prominent figure in interfaith dialogue, told Herzog: “The war after Oct. 7 is not between Israel and Hamas—it’s between two worlds: one of light and one of darkness. You represent the world of humanity and democracy.”
European Council of Imams condemns visit
The European Council of Imams strongly condemned the imams’ visit to Israel, calling the act a betrayal of basic Islamic principles and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The council said in a statement on Wednesday that the delegation met with “criminal figures” in the occupying Israeli state amid a global outcry over the ongoing military assault on Gaza.
It said the act “is in stark contradiction to any human or moral sensibility.”
It emphasised that the individuals involved in the visit are “unknown among European Muslims” and have no affiliation with any “reputable religious institutions or trusted Islamic organisations.”
According to the statement, the visit “does not represent the position of Muslims in Europe, who have been staging protests and demonstrations in support of Palestinians across the continent.”
The statement also called on all imams, scholars, activists, and people of conscience to “intensify efforts in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and to confront the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”
The council warned against any attempts to “whitewash the crimes of the occupier,” describing such efforts as “a betrayal of Allah, His Messenger, and the blood of the oppressed.”
Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, also condemned the visit “by those whose eyes and insights have been blinded, and whose feelings have become numb to the suffering of this afflicted people, as if they have no humanitarian, religious, or moral bonds with this people.”
“These mercenaries who neglect their moral and religious values…usually end up recorded in the darkest pages of history,” it added in a statement.
Despite international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a genocidal war on Gaza, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023. (Anadolu Agency/jns.org)