KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — Perak Islamic religious authorities have accused Zionists from Israel of backing Buddhists in Myanmar to eliminate its Rohingya minorities, in its Friday sermon distributed to mosques in the state today.
As the refugee crisis reaches Malaysian shores, the sermon also accused the non-Muslim Malaysian lawmakers of “giving excuses” to allegedly deny their responsibilities to help the refugees.
“The reality is, this is an evil plot masterminded by Zionist Israelis,” said the sermon, referring to the persecution of the Rohingya.
“There is no more doubt that Buddhists in Myanmar and Zionist Israelis have a close relationship and share the same goal to eradicate Muslims in this world.”
To back its argument, the sermon by Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIP) quoted US political analyst Kevin Barrett, who had previously insisted that the September 11 terrorist attacks was an “inside job”.
JAIP also cited a writer named “Kashif Ahmed”, who had written several online articles about of alleged Israeli plots in Egypt, Nigeria and Libya, among others.
The part in the sermon today referring to Zionists appears similar to an article written by one “Azri El” published on the website of Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) on May 20 this year titled “Komplot Buddha, Zionis dalam penghapusan etnik Rohingya” [Translation: Buddhist and Zionists plot in the Rohingya ethnic cleansing].
“Muslims should not be occupied with tolerating non-Muslims and trying to care only for their feelings, when they have never respected us or taken care of our feelings,” said the sermon today.
“Muslims are now no longer even aware when our religion is being insulted, our scholars vilified and insulted, Allah’s laws are openly mocked and opposed.”
Nearly 3,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees were left adrift in boats in Southeast Asia’s seas and have swum to shore or been rescued off Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand over the past week after a Thai crackdown prompted human traffickers to abandon their human cargo.
