A Muslim imam who spoke at a rally for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders once said Israel may be tied to the Islamic State terrorist group.
Imam Sayed Hassan Qazwini, founder of the Islamic Institute of America based in Michigan, praised Sanders ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Michigan. “I believe we need to send someone who cares about all Americans, and he treats them equally,” Qazwini said shortly before the socialist appeared on stage, later noting that Sanders condemns “white supremacy,” “Islamophobia,” and “anti-Semitism.”
During a 2015 sermon, Qazwini accused Israel of having an affinity for ISIS because it once fought Iranian-backed militia.
“This speaks out. This speaks volumes: that ISIS somehow is connected to Israel and ISIS is playing the role of the arm of the Zionist in the Muslim world to kill more Muslims and non-Muslims so it can define the name of Islam, so people can blame Islam for its atrocities,” he said.
He expressed support for Sanders a year later, “even though he is a Jew.”
“An honorable man, I truly consider him an honorable man, even though he is a Jew, but you know, we have no problem with the Jewish people,” Qazwini said about Sanders. “We have a problem with the Zionists, not with the Jewish people, like Bernie Sanders. He was the only one who was honest and who did not even bow to the pro-Israeli lobby.”
ISIS has threatened Israel with violence for years.
At the start of 2020, ISIS released an audio recording calling on followers to attack Israel in the “new stage” in its war. “Today, we have begun a new stage in our war against you,” an ISIS spokesman said. “Go for the Israeli settlements and marketplaces. Turn them into lands for testing your weapons and chemical rockets and other types [of weapons].”
And prior to the terrorist group’s new strategy, ISIS penned an article its newspaper al Naba. “The apostate [tyrants] who rule the lands of Islam are graver infidels than [the Jews], and war against them takes precedence over war against the original infidels,” the article said, claiming the terrorists want to regain the two Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, which are under Saudi control.
