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News from Rome: PRO-TERROR RACIST IMAM
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The Italian Minister of the
Interior Giuseppe Pisanu |
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The Italian Minister of the
Interior Giuseppe Pisanu |
1.
Sheikh Palazzi: 'Scialoja must dissociate from him,
BY STELLA PRUDENTE
2.
LA PADANIA
(Official newspaper of the "Northern League" Party)
June 10, 2003
ROME: Abdel Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa, imam
of the mosque of Rome who was discovered by Magdi Allam of "La Repubblica"
while inciting anti-Jewish hatred and holy war during his Friday sermon, is
causing serious embarrassment for Muslims in Italy.
Some of them defend Moussa, such as Reeda, imam of
a small mosque in the Esquilino district (of Rome), and accuse the newspaper
edited by Ezio Mauro ["La Repubblica"] of "trying to discredit Islam",
while others, such as the secretary of the U.C.O.I.I., Roberto Hamza Piccardo,
say: "No comment. The article published by 'La Repubblica' was not
written in good faith".
The one who does not underestimate the dangers of the
sermon of that imam [Moussa] -- which the Vice President of the [Italian]
Senate, Roberto Calderoli, defined as "incitement to terrorism" -- is Sheikh
Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Secretary of A.M.I. [Italian Muslim Association], a moderate
Muslim organization, known for its anti-fundamentalist, pro-American and
pro-Israeli stands.
"Taking what that imam [Moussa] preaches into
consideration -- Palazzi says -- the solution is simple: Abdel Samie Mahmoud
Ibrahim Moussa is an ideologue of suicide terrorism, and we, the moderate
Muslims, are asking the Italian branch of the Muslim World League to dismiss him,
and asking Minister of Interior Giuseppe Pisanu to consider whether there exist
the conditions for his [Moussa's] expulsion from Italy".
LA PADANIA: Do you suppose that such a call to
holy war would come from the imam [Moussa] of the main mosque of Europe,
the only one which the Italian government recognizes as an official seat of
Islamic worship?
PALAZZI: No, it was a surprise. During the last
months several representatives of the Italian branch of the Muslim World League,
such as Omar Camiletti, have chosen to take a moderate position, and declared to
be ready to denounce extremists. But if an organization which declares to be
moderate hosts in its mosque an extremist imam [Moussa], then the
situation is different: Either fire him [Moussa], or Pisanu must expel
him [Moussa] from Italy. A man [Moussa] who preaches suicide terrorism cannot
have a role with such responsibility [Imam of the Grand Mosque of Rome]
in a democratic western country. After Adel Smith and the imam-butcher
of Torino Bouchta, Muslims in Italy surely do not need to import more fanatics.
LA PADANIA: Why did the government choose to
exclude U.C.O.I.I. from the project of a National Board for Islam in Italy?
PALAZZI: This occurred because the government has
serious reasons to suppose that certain mosques or prayer halls controlled by
that organization [U.C.O.I.I.] are nests of extremism. That conclusion was the
result of long investigation by former Deputy Minister of the Interior, Carlo
Taormina, who among other facts collected documents proving the existence of
direct links between Syrian leaders of U.C.O.I.I. and the Nada Management Group
of Lugano, the Swiss financial holding which the U.S. State Department considers
to be a key supporter of al-Qa'idah.
LA PADANIA:
The Ssecretary of U.C.O.I.I.,
Piccardo, claims that classifying his organization as "fundamentalist" is a "blatant
lie".
PALAZZI:
Mr. Roberto Hamza Piccardo has recently
circulated a declaration of his which is nothing but an ideological
justification for suicide bombing. In the past he [Piccardo] openly praised the
terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah. In the name of U.C.O.I.I., he
[Piccardo] also signed a press release -- obtained by the then President of the
[Italian] Parliamentary Commission on Intelligence and today's Foreign Minister,
Franco Frattini -- which advocated "planning the creation of a military
dictatorship in Italy". How can this person [Piccardo] today hope that Italian
authorities consider him a reliable counterpart? How can he [Piccardo] hope to
be free to make propaganda in support of terrorism, and then pretend that no one
takes that same propaganda seriously?
Piccardo also adds a further mistake to his raving past
declarations. He says that the imam [Moussa] did not intend to say what
he [Moussa] actually said, and that the journalist Magdi Allam is guilty since
he [Allam] dared to translate into Italian what the imam [Moussa] said in
Arabic. As one sees, Piccardo claims that certain things are acceptable when
said in Arabic as long as they are not be translated into Italian. If the
Ministry of Interior needed proof about the Muslim Brotherhood, Piccardo is now
offering that proof by himself. U.C.O.I.I. militants claim to be loyal to the
State and to believe in democracy, but in reality they want to take control of
the Muslim community in Italy, and to lead it to accept at least the theoretical
legitimacy of suicide terrorism.
************
3.
LA REPUBBLICA
Ezio Mauro, Editor
June 8, 2003
ROME: "It is a sensitive issue. If misunderstood,
it can enflame the relations between the Islamic community and the rest of the
country".
This is the answer we hear from some representatives of
the Muslim community in Italy the day after the publication in "La Repubblica"
of the violent sermon delivered by Egyptian Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa,
32 years old, appointed as imam of the mosque of Rome, the largest in
Europe, only three months ago.
"O Allah, destroy the houses of the enemies of Islam! O
Allah, help us to annihilate the enemies of Islam! O Allah, grant victory
everywhere to the Nation of Islam", said the preacher immediately before Friday
prayers.
Inflamed words, to the point that none of the
representatives of the Islamic community in Italy dare to approve them. Even
so, their condemnation is heard, but not unanimously. This proves that the
Friday sermon in Rome touched a very sensitive point: The relation between the
different souls of the Muslim community in Italy -- in total 1,000,000 persons
-- and the State which hosts them.
"No comment. The article published by 'La Repubblica'
was not written in good faith"», that is the first answer coming from Hamza
Roberto Piccardo, National Secretary of the Union of the Islamic Centers and
Organizations in Italy (U.C.O.I.I.), which represents in Italy the positions of
the Muslim Brotherhood, the most extreme branch of Islam.
We insist a bit, and Piccardo adds: "One must understand
the imam: That is the typical Egyptian -- not Italian -- way of speaking.
Egyptians are famous for their verbal excesses. The imam [Moussa] does
not understand the Italian reality very well, and that is the reason why a
journalist who understands well both the Italian and the Egyptian mentality
should have never been provocative by asking questions which are conceived in
order to gain a good title of your cover page. That is the way to exaggerate
problems, and not to solve them".
That is also the thought of many of those who yesterday
assembled in another small mosque of Rome, the one of the Esquilino ward.
"It is a provocation, an attempt to discredit Islam",
says imam Reeda, a local leader.
The judgment of Abdul Hadi Palazzi, secretary of A.M.I. [Italian
Muslim Association], the Italian Muslim Association, is quite the opposite:
"We asked Minister of the Interior Giuseppe Pisanu (who
during the past few weeks launched in his essays published by 'La Repubblica'
a call for an agreement between the State and moderate Islam, Ed.) to evaluate
whether there are grounds to declare imam Moussa persona non grata
and to expel him from Italy".
Other leading representatives of the Muslim community say
that the words of the new imam [Moussa] reveal how necessary it is for
Italian Muslims to have religious leaders who understand the reality of the
country in which they live, and can preach on the base of that understanding.
"What Moussa says is simply unacceptable, especially in a
place such as Italy", says Zoheir Louassini, director of Arabroma.com, a site
which express the positions of secular Arab intellectuals.
"Even in Cairo those statements are unacceptable, since
their tone dates back to the Middle Age. At least in Cairo there exist a debate
on those issues. Here they only damage coexistence between immigrants and the
country which is hosting them".
This analysis is also shared by Yahya Sergio Pallavicini,
Vice President of CoReIs, Islamic Religious Community.
"What we need -- he [Pallavicini] says -- is a team of
Italian imams: That is the only way to free ourselves from ideology and
fanaticism, from an Islam like the one which inspires the imam [Moussa]
of Rome, very different from the one which inspires us".
************
4.
LIBERO
Vittorio Feltri, Editor
June 8, 2003
"Taking the declaration of that imam [Moussa]
of the mosque of Rome in due consideration one must say: Even if only fifty
percent of what Magdi Allam wrote yesterday on the front page of 'La
Repubblica' is true, there is only one solution left. Abdel Samie Mahmoud
Ibrahim Moussa is an ideologue of suicide terrorism. We, the moderate Muslims
of Italy, ask the World Muslim League to dismiss him [Moussa] from the mosque,
and ask Italian Minister of Interior Pisanu to expel him [Moussa] from Italy as persona non grata".
Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Secretary of the Italian Muslim
Association (A.M.I.), oldest and most moderate among organizations which
represent Italian Muslims, does not hide himself behind a toe and does not
resort to diplomacy.
In this interview of his with "Libero", Palazzi
explains why "isolating those crazy people is in the immediate interest of the
honest Muslims",
LIBERO: Could you foretell this u-turn of the
imam [Moussa] of the largest mosque in Europe, the only one recognized as an
official Muslim place of worship in Italy?
PALAZZI: I could not, especially since, during
the last months, some representatives of the Muslim World League, such as Omar Camiletti, have chosen to take a moderate position, and declared themselves
ready to denounce extremists. In any case, if a newly-appointed imam
plays the extremist, the music is different, especially when that imam [Moussa]
comes directly from the University of Cairo, where preaching fanaticism has
become daily fare.
LIBERO: How does the music change?
PALAZZI: It changes in the sense that either the
administration of the mosque fires him [Moussa], or [Italian Interior Minister] Pisanu must expel him from Italy. A preacher of armed jihad
cannot be part of civil society in a western country, and cannot hold a place of
responsibility within that society. We do not need more crazy people among
Muslims.
LIBERO: If I am not wrong, that is also the
reason why the [Italian] government chose to exclude the U.C.O.I.I. from the
project of a National Council for the Recognition of Islam.
PALAZZI: Surely. The government has serious
reasons to suspect that some mosques or prayer halls controlled by that
organization [U.C.O.I.I.] are nests of extremism. This conclusion was the
result of a long investigation by former Deputy Minister of Interior Carlo
Taormina, which among other facts collected documents proving the existence of
direct links between the Syrian leaders of U.C.O.I.I. and Nada Management Group
of Lugano, the Swiss financial holding firm which the U.S. State Department
considers to be a direct supporter of al-Qa'idah.
LIBERO: The secretary of U.C.O.I.I., Piccardo,
claims that classifying his organization as "fundamentalist" is an "infamous lie".
PALAZZI: Mr. Roberto Hamza Piccardo recently
circulated a declaration of his which is nothing but an ideological
justification for suicide bombing. In the past he openly praised the terrorists
of Hamas and Hezbollah. In the name of U.C.O.I.I., he also signed
a press release -- which came into the hands of the then President of the
Parliamentary Commission on Intelligence and today's Foreign Minister, Franco
Frattini -- advocating "planning the creation of a military dictatorship in
Italy". He [Piccardo] cannot pretend to the Italian authorities that they
should accept as a reliable counterpart a group making that kind of public
declarations. One cannot go on making propaganda in support of suicide
terrorism for years, and then hope that no one takes it seriously.
************
5.
LIBERO
Vittorio Feltri, Editor
June 12, 2003
"The mosques of Italy must be completely freed from
preachers of violence, from those who enlist people for holy wars and from
agents of foreign interests".
Thus spoke Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu. Yesterday,
he was compelled to apply that principle to the imam of the mosque of
Monte Antenne in Rome, Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa.
"Last week", the Minister said, "inside the mosque of
Rome, people heard a violent Friday sermon supporting so-called holy war. We
have no verbatim transcript, but the summary which was published by the press is
surely alarming. Afterwards, we heard that the imam, Mohamed Ibrahim
Moussa, declared to totally respect the country which is hosting him, and its
laws, but that declaration of his is surely not enough. I am sure that the
administrators of the Mosque of Rome will solve the problem, and I am compelled
to repeat that the mosques of Italy must be cleaned from preachers of violence".
If Pisanu raises his voice, moderate Muslims also
speak very clearly, in order to avoid being confused with those who support
suicide bombers. During the past days the Board of Governors of the Italian
Muslim Association (A.M.I.) officially asked Pisanu to expel from Italy the
imam [Moussa] of the mosque of Rome. Last Sunday, this decision was
communicated to "Libero" by the Secretary of A.M.I., Sheikh Abdu Hadi
Palazzi.
Today he [Palazzi] says that the request will be
officially transmitted to the government during the next meeting of consultation
between the delegation of A.M.I., the Interior Department for Civil Liberties
and Immigration, and the Interior Central Directorate for Religious Affairs.
The distance between the different Muslim organizations
of Italy is clearly emerging, as it never happened before.
"The just cannot be called to pay together with the
sinner", Palazzi says to "Libero". "The largest mosque of Europe cannot
become a nest for a small group of pro-terror fanatics. During the '70's the
old Communist Party found the courage to dissociate itself from the Red Brigades
which were active among the workers of Fiat [Italy's main automobile corporation].
Today we, the moderate Muslims, must do the same toward those who use mosques to
recruit militants for al-Qa'idah".
Among other things, the document issued by A.M.I. says:
"..The contents of the sermon, as narrated by the journalist Magdi Allam in the
article published on June 7 in the Roman daily newspaper 'La Repubblica'
are unfortunately authentic and confirmed by many people who took part in Friday
prayers at the mosque of Monte Antenne in Rome...".
Palazzi says, "...we oppose the decision to appoint as
imam of the mosque of the Capital a young bachelor [Moussa] who has just
completed his University classes, a man who does not follow traditional Sunni
belief, but rather follows the militant extremism inspired by the Muslim
Brotherhood sect, a man who is a supporter of suicide terrorism according to the
theories of Yusuf al-Qaradawi".
For the time being, the administration of the mosque
remains silent, but someone is reflecting on an important point: "The
journalist Magdi Allam does not usually attend prayers in the mosque on Fridays.
Someone must have informed him [Allam] about the shocking contents of that
specific prayer. Those who want to inform public opinion about the danger
represented by that imam [Moussa] are probably on the board of the mosque
itself".
In other words, that imam [Moussa] is opposed by
Italian Muslims who do not accept such extremist preachers coming from the
University of Cairo. He [Moussa] is opposed by Italian Muslims who oppose
support for suicide terrorism.
Since they [moderate Italian Muslims] are not able to
directly fire him [Moussa], it was necessary to create a scandal, and to put the
Egyptian authorities on the spot.
************
6.
L'OPINIONE DELLE LIBERTA'
Arturo Diaconale, Editor
Front Page
June 10, 2003
What was the intention of Minister of Interior
Giuseppe Pisanu in launching the proposal of an Islamic Council for Italy,
opened to moderate Muslim organizations and committed to coordinate relations
between the Muslim minority and the government?
Pisanu explained by saying, "We want to understand
the Italian Muslim community, in order to find within it counterparts who are
representative and reliable. We want to welcome moderates and firmly counter
extremists. Mosques must close their doors to political propaganda and -- as in
some cases already happened -- to pro-terror incitement".
Pisanu's initiative was immediately welcomed by
the President of the Italian Muslim Association (A.M.I.), Sheikh Ali Hussen, by
representatives of the Italian Branch of the Muslim World League (L.M.M.) Mario
Scialoja and Omar Mario Camiletti, and by the Vice President of the Islamic
Religious Community (CoReIs), Yahya Sergio Pallavicini.
These three organizations agreed with Minister Pisanu
that it is necessary to monitor extremists, in order to prevent mosques and
prayer halls in Italy from being transformed into centers of propaganda for
suicide terrorism, or even into centers for enrolling terrorists.
The decision of Minister Pisanu was on the other
hand severely criticized by Roberto Hamza Piccardo, Secretary of the Union of
Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (U.C.O.I.I.), an organization
behind which lurks the Italian branch of the "Muslim brotherhood" sect.
Piccardo, who in the past has publicly distributed
messages and declarations legitimizing suicide terrorism, claimed that calling
his organization "extremist" is "infamous", including in his criticism both the
government and media.
However, some facts are undeniable:
The Syrian leadership of the "Muslim brotherhood" in
Italy was closely related to Youssef Nada, the extremist banker of Lugano who was al-Qa'idah's cashier for Europe.
The mosque of Segrate in Milan -- belonging to the
U.C.O.I.I. -- was targeted by a police investigation concerning illegal
circumcisions performed in absence of sanitary requirements, to the point that
its leader, Dr. Ali Abu Shweimah -- Piccardo's predecessor as U.C.O.I.I.'s
secretary -- was judged guilty of committing "serious personal injuries on a
minor".
Another mosque belonging to the U.C.O.I.I., that of Corso
Lucci in Naples, is found in Italian police records since its deputy imam,
Ahmad Nacer Yassine, was condemned to eight years of prison for his membership
in the Islamic Armed Group of Algeria (G.I.A.).
These are the reasons why the experts had no doubt that,
while speaking of "monitoring those mosques which could become centers of
pro-terror propaganda", the reference was mainly concerning those places of
worship related to the Italian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and belonging to
the U.C.O.I.I.
The large mosque of Monte Antenne in Rome, administrated
by the Italian branch of the L.M.M. and by the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy
(CICd'I), seemed to be exempt from that danger, and the circumstance that it is
run by a Council of Administration made up of ambassadors from Muslim countries
in Italy seemed to be sufficient guarantee.
That the situation was not so was made known to public
opinion by the journalist Magdi Allam.
On June 6 [2003], Allam went to the mosque and listened
to the sermon of the imam, Abdel Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa. The day
after, Allam published on the cover page of "La Repubblica" a detailed
summary of the sermons' contents.
It was consequently discovered that the position of
imam of the largest mosque in Europe was not entrusted to a moderate scholar,
but to a recently-appointed young bachelor [Moussa] who accepts the ideology of
suicide terrorism characteristic of the "Muslim brotherhood" and spread by Dr.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, that the position of imam was entrusted to a preacher
characterized by the most violent Jew-hatred, a man who also legitimizes
so-called "honor killings".
Moderate Muslims of Italy consider this situation totally
unacceptable: Preaching in support of terror is not acceptable in a small
prayer halls in suburbs or small towns. Preaching in support of terror should
be even less acceptable in the main mosque of the Capital, a mosque which in
administrated by what according to Italian law is a "Moral Entity".
For this reason, on June 8 the A.M.I. Board of Governors
made a double request: We asked the Italian branch of the L.M.M. to
disassociate themselves from the extremist imam [Moussa] and to fire him,
and we asked Minister Pisanu to consider declaring that imam [Moussa] persona non grata, and to expel him from Italy.
We cannot but hope that the expulsion from Italy of Abdel
Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa will also set an example for the future, as a
concrete sign of the determination of the Italian government to fight militant
extremism.
************
7.
June 11, 2003
Essential parts of press releases circulated by the Board
of Governors of the Italian Muslim Association on June 8, 2003, concerning the
contents of the Friday sermon (khutbah) delivered by Dr. Abdel-Samie
Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa at the Mosque of Rome on June 6:
"We publicly express our total and complete
disassociation from what was declared by Dr. Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa
during his 28th sermon in Rome.
"The contents of the sermon, as reported by journalist
Magdi Allam in his article published on June 7 in the Roman daily newspaper 'La
Repubblica', are unfortunately authentic and confirmed by many people who
participated in Friday prayers at the mosque of Monte Antenne in Rome.
"We blame the decision of those who appointed to a
position of responsibility -- such as that of imam of the mosque of the
Capital -- a young bachelor [Moussa] who has just completed his University
classes, a man who does not follow traditional Sunni belief, but rather follows
the militant extremism inspired by the 'Muslim Brotherhood' sect, and who is a
supporter of suicide terrorism propounded in the theories of Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
"We know perfectly well that in Egypt anti-Sunni
extremism has begun to seriously affect the once glorious and moderate
University of al-Azhar as-Sharif. We proclaim that such supporters of
suicide terrorism must not be tolerated in a place of worship on Italian
territory, in a place of worship which is administrated by the Islamic Cultural
Center of Italy, a "Moral Entity" according to the Italian law.
"During his sermon, Dr. Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim
Moussa dared to declare that 'A marriage between a Muslim and a Jewess is today
it is forbidden'. This caused a serious shock to listeners, who heard his [Moussa's]
open denial of a principle (the permissibility of marriages between Muslim men
and women with the People of the Book) which is explicitly stated in the Qur'an,
and unanimously confirmed by Sunni scholars of every generation. He [Moussa]
also made ambiguous affirmations concerning so-called 'honor killings', without
mentioning that Islam considers it a form of murder bereft of any justification.
"Moreover, for what concern the practice of suicide
bombing, Dr. Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa openly expressed his open
solidarity with Hamas and with al-Qa'idah's militiamen in Chechnya,
and stated that he considers as acceptable according to Islamic law the deeds of
those kamikazes who commit suicide in order to assassinate innocent civilians.
"Moussa also declared that the obligation of abstaining
from involvement in terrorism only involves 'regular' immigrants in Italy.
"Each of these declarations by Moussa completely
contradict the principles of Sunni Islam.
"According to Islam there are cases is which a defensive
war is lawful, on the condition that is declared by a State which sends its
soldiers to fight against other soldiers. As for suicide and terrorism by
guerrilla groups who intend to kill innocent civilians, these acts are forbidden
by Islam and regarded as capital crimes.
"Consequently, the A.M.I. Board of Governors:
1) Reaffirms that the extremist beliefs voiced by Dr.
Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa are in contrast to the Sunni faith which is
accepted by the wide majority of Muslims in Italy, are diametrically opposed to
the attempt to integrate the Muslim minority within the Italian society, and
represent a serious threat to public order in Italy.
2) Ask Dr. Mario Scialoja, in his position as director
of the Italian branch of the Muslim World League, to prove in practice the
intention of his organization to adhere to the 'Agreement for a Moderate Islam',
by immediately firing Dr. Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa from the position
of imam of the mosque of Monte Antenne.
3) Ask Minister of Interior Giuseppe Pisanu to evaluate
the opportunity to declare persona non grata and to expel from Italy Dr.
Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa, thus applying -- starting with the main
mosque of Italy -- the principle according to which "The mosques of Italy must
be completely freed from preachers of violence, for those who enroll people for
holy war and from agents of foreign interests". This last request will be
officially transmitted to the government during the next meeting of consultation
between the delegation of A.M.I., the Interior Department for Civil Liberties
and Immigration and the Interior Central Direction for Religious Affairs".
************
8.
L'OPINIONE DELLE LIBERTA'
Arturo Diaconale, Editor
June 17, 2003
"What had to be done has finally been done", says
Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi to "L'opinione", commenting with
satisfaction on the dismissal of the extremist imam [Moussa] from the
mosque of Rome.
However, this lesson must also be taught to others, i.e.
to the ambiguous preachers belonging to U.C.O.I.I. The Italian parliament must
do its job, too: Converting into penal crimes (and punishing) deeds such as
incitement to suicide terrorism, to so called "holy war" or armed jihad,
and every attempt to voice "understanding" of or emulation for suicide bombers
who act in Israel or in any other part of the world.
L'OPINIONE: Imam Moussa, the one who
incited terror and hatred against Jews was fired. Are you satisfied?
PALAZZI: The result is extremely positive. The
swiftness with which the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy fires an imam
who incites to violence and ethnic hatred must surely be praised. One must also
add that such swiftness was primarily caused by these factors: The firm stand
of Minister of Interior Giuseppe Pisanu and the mobilization of moderate
Muslims who absolutely reject fanatical and extreme positions voiced by a
pro-terrorist preacher. It is a moral and material victory, a fruit of the
agreement between the Italian government and moderate Muslim organizations, a
relevant precedent in a strategy to counter and oppose militant extremism.
L'OPINIONE: Can one claim that there is a
positive aspect in what happened?
PALAZZI: What happened surely contributed to
clarify the nature and the orientation of those organizations which want to
represent Islam in Italy. A.M.I. [Italian Muslim Association] immediately asked
for the dismissal of the imam [Moussa] and eventually his expulsion from
Italy. The Italian branch of the World Muslim League (L.M.M.) and the Islamic
Religious Community (CoReIs) declared that what Abdel Samie Mohammad Ibrahim
Moussa said is unacceptable.
On the other hand, the so-called Union of Islamic
Communities and Organizations in Italy (U.C.O.I.I.), i.e. the Italian branch of
the Muslim Brotherhood, openly defended the pro-terrorist imam, and
condemned the journalist Magdi Allam as having committed a crime by translating
into Italian what the imam [Moussa] said in Arabic. In so doing, they
themselves removed their mask of pseudo-moderation.
L'OPINIONE: So it is a step forward toward the
solution of the problem related to pro-terrorist propaganda inside the mosques
of Italy?
PALAZZI: It is a step forward, at least with
regard to the main mosque of Rome. But it is only a first step. We must not
forget that most mosques and prayer halls in Italy are controlled by the Muslim
Brotherhood network, and that the Italian branch of this sect is at least
theoretically supporting suicide terrorism. They declare their approval for
terrorism in Israel and Chechnya, but claim that they do not want to extend
terrorism to Italy. That is surely not enough.
L'OPINIONE: What else is needed?
PALAZZI: To
begin with, we need regular cooperation between the Ministry of Interior and
moderate Muslim organizations to identify and neutralize those who spread the
ideology of terror. That is already happening. Apart from the
involvement of the executive branch of government, one also needs the
involvement of the legislative branch of government. We need the
Parliament to pass an act classifying incitement to suicide terrorism as a
specific penal crime, and the classification of the abuse of a religious
position or of a place of worship for such incitement as grounds for
imprisonment.
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