(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 5 - Italy's Interior minister,
Angelino Alfano, has ordered the immediate expulsion of the imam
of the San Dona di Piave mosque, near Venice, the Moroccan
Raoudi Albdelbar, due to ''serious disturbance of public order,
danger to national security, and religion discrimination''.
The imam, according to the Italian daily Libero, had
incited hatred of Jews during a Friday sermon in late July.
''Oh Allah,'' he reportedly said in the sermon, a video of
which the Israel-linked Middle East Media Research Institute
published on its website, Memri.org. ''Do to them what will make
us happy. Oh Allah, count them one by one and kill all of them
to the very last. Do not spare a single one of them.''
''It is unacceptable,'' Alfano said, ''that a clearly
anti-Semitic sermon is held, with explicit incitement to
violence and religious hatred. Let my decision stand as a
warning to all those that think hatred can be preached in
Italy.''
The measure, the interior ministry stated, was based on
careful verification conducted by the anti-terrorism service,
with assistance from the Venice special investigations unit and
in agreement with the prosecutor's office.
Both the Italian political world and the Muslim community
of the Veneto region have praised the interior minister's
decision to expel someone who ''preaches death''.
''Islam is a religion of peace. Those who preach death
should be thrown out of mosques,'' said the head of the Islamic
Federation of Veneto and the Assalam association of Annone
Veneto, Bouchaib Tanji.
''We approve of the decision,'' he said, noting the
support also from the Migranti della Venezia Orientale
association. ''It is unacceptable that an imam, who has been
tasked with preaching the Quran and prayers of the Muslim
faithful, incites violence against someone and the killing of
anyone. Even worse if he calls on God to exterminate an entire
population. The killing of those of the Jewish faith does not
make any other human happy, just as would be the case with the
extermination of Muslims or Christians or any other
population.'' (ANSAmed).
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