COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s Jewish community has filed a complaint over an imam accused of calling for the murder of Jews in a case sparking political opprobrium, it emerged Thursday.
Imam Mundhir Abdallah preaches in the working class Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro at the Masjid Al-Faruq mosque, which media have previously linked to radical Islam.
He stands accused of citing a hadith or Qur’anic narrative on March 31 calling for Muslims to rise up against Jews.
“Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them,” begins Abdallah’s address in footage on YouTube, according to a transcript of the original Arabic provided by US organization the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, the head of the Jewish community in Denmark, urged police to open an investigation into a possible case of incitement to racial hatred.
“We fear that weak and easily-influenced persons could interpret this kind of preaching as an appeal to visit acts of violence or terror on Jews,” Asmussen told the Politiken daily.
Minister of immigration and integration, Inger Stojberg, described the imam’s address as “horrible, anti-democratic and abominable.”
Neither the imam nor the Jewish community responded to AFP requests for comment.
According to broadcaster DR, Omar Al-Hussein, who was behind a series of shootings in Copenhagen in February 2015 which left two people dead, had visited the mosque the day before going on the rampage.
The Dane of Palestinian origin had sworn allegiance to Daesh and shot and killed one person at a cultural center hosting a conference on freedom of expression, before killing a Jewish man outside a synagogue. Police later shot him dead after he fired on them in a third incident.
Earlier this month Denmark published a list of six foreigners accused of preaching hatred — five of them Muslim preachers and one Evangelical, banning them for at least two years.
The list includes two Saudis, a Canadian, a Syrian, and two Americans, including pastor Terry Jones who burned copies of the Qur'an in 2011.
Imam accused in Denmark of calling for murder of Jews
Imam accused in Denmark of calling for murder of Jews
South Africa defends naval drills with Iran, Russia as ‘essential’
- The drills — led by China — were more than a military exercise, Captain Thamaha said
- “It is a demonstration of our collective resolve to work together“
SIMON’S TOWN, South Africa: South Africa on Saturday began naval drills with Russia, Iran and China, describing the maneuvers off its coast as not merely a show of force but a vital response to rising maritime tensions.
The weeklong ‘Will for Peace 2026’ exercises come just days after the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, saying it carried crude bound for Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of Western sanctions.
The seizure followed an American raid that toppled Moscow’s ally Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
The drills — led by China — were more than a military exercise and a statement of intent among the BRICS group of emerging nations, Captain Nndwakhulu Thomas Thamaha, South Africa’s joint taskforce commander, told the opening Ceremony.
“It is a demonstration of our collective resolve to work together,” he said.
BRICS, originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, more recently, Indonesia.
China and Iran deployed destroyer warships, while Russia and the United Arab Emirates sent corvette vessels. Host South Africa dispatched a frigate.
Indonesia, Ethiopia and Brazil joined as observers.
“In an increasingly complex maritime environment, cooperation such as this is not an option, it is essential,” said Thamaha.
The exercises were to “ensure the safety of shipping lanes and maritime economic activities,” he said.
Previously known as Exercise Mosi, the drills were initially scheduled for last November but postponed due to a clash with the G20 summit in Johannesburg, boycotted by the United States.
Washington has accused South Africa and the BRICS bloc of ‘anti?American’ policies and warned members they could face an additional 10 percent tariff on top of existing duties already applied worldwide.
South Africa has also drawn US criticism for its close ties with Russia and a range of other policies, including its decision to bring a genocide case against Washington ally Israel at the International Court of Justice over the Gaza war.
South Africa drew criticism for hosting naval drills with Russia and China in 2023, coinciding with the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The three nations first conducted joint naval drills in 2019.
