Remember palestinian preacher Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris? He's the one who gave this lovely Friday sermon a few weeks ago. The one that forced Mahmoud Abbas to issue this promise to censor mosque sermons in general and Sheikh Mudeiris in particular.
Well, poor Mr. Abbas, despite what I'm sure are his best efforts, has been unsuccessful in his attempt to curb Sheikh Mudeiris' enthusiasm.
In a fiery official sermon on Palestinian State Television Friday (March 18, 2005), Palestinian preacher Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris declared that "the Jewish government" was hatching plots together with "extremist religious Jews" to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem or to "invade the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque" with "thousands of extremists, Jews."
Sheikh Mudeiris, who spoke in a mosque in Gaza, warned Israel that "millions of Muslims would come to the defense of Al-Aqsa," and similar comments came in the other official mosque address on Voice of Palestine radio from Sheikh Abu-Sneina at the Aqsa mosque itself in Jerusalem.
Both addresses featured anti-American elements, too, comparing Palestinian "martyrs" with those in fighting the U.S. in Iraq.
The speeches themselves were only the latest signs that the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas had not really carried out its promise to stop all violence and incitement to violence against Israel, while Israeli officials have actually downplayed or hidden obvious Palestinian violations.
But wait a minute. According to the JPost article (dated March 9),
"From now on, the preachers will be given speeches prepared in advance by the PA authorities," the [senior PA security] official said. "Anyone who does not abide by the text will be fired."
So was the above text prepared in advance by the PA authorities? Or are Sheikh Mudeiris and Sheikh Youssef Abu-Sneina about to be fired? The suspense is killing me.
