From Jihad Watch:

Tunisia: Muslim leader says "Arab Spring" will lead to the elimination of Israel

His prediction also matches that of another "Islamist" politician in Egypt, just reported yesterday. Did these guys call each other?
No, what we have is another case of striking uniformity in alleged "misunderstanders" of Islam that are geographically well removed from one another. Funny how that keeps happening. "Muslim Brotherhood leader of Tunisia calls for an end to Israel," from Spero News, May 21 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Arab media has reported an interview with Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood leader Rachid Ghannouchi in which he calls for and predicts the end of Israel. According a Muslim World News translation of the interview in the London-based Elaph:

Ghannouchi is developing / has developed a new strategy for post-revolutionary Tunis, and calls it “The jurisprudence of building, economic growth and construction”, and a new political perception of joint work and tolerance between the different political forces Nahda supports the foundation of a democracy, and preserving Tunis. * Ghannouchi praises the role that Qatar played in the Tunisian and Arab revolutions by adopting them in the media; Qatar provided a platform to their spokesmen * Ghannouchi says that the Tunisian revolution is a true popular revolution. He has confidence in it in spite of the attempts to arrouse a counter revolution * In the next four years, the IUMS plans to establish four universities, one Arab speaking in Turkey, and another is the Tunisian defunct Zaytuna. Ghannouchi supports the Libyan revolution, and hopes it succeeds and joins the other successful revolutions *

Ghannouchi maintains that altogether the Arab revolutions are positive for the Palestinians, and threaten to bring Israel to an end. He says that the Palestinian problem lies at the heart of the Nation [umma], and that all the land between the mosque in Mecca and Jerusalem represents the heart of the Islamic Nation, and any [foreign] control over part of this heart is a stamp on the umma’s illness. There is no doubt, he continues, that the revolutions open a new age, in which the regimes which support the West and Israel fall – Egypt, Tunis and soon Libya, Yemen and Syria. The foundations of Western interests in the Arab countries are shaking. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, he concludes, said that Israel will come to an end prior to 2027; this date looks far, and may be Israel will come to an end sooner.

Earlier posts reported on the return of Mr. Ghannouchi to Tunisia following his long exile in the UK.

An Egyptian news report has identified Rashid Ghannouchi (many spelling variations) as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood “abroad.” Ghannouchi is the leader of the Tunisian Islamist movement known as Nahada (aka Ennahda, Al Nahda) and can best be described as an independent Islamist power center who is tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood though his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and his important position in the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), both organizations led by Global Muslim Brotherhood Youssef Qaradawi. Al-Ghannouchi is also one of the founding members of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi organization closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and dedicated to the propagation of “Wahabist” Islam throughout the world. Ghannouchi is known for his thinking on the issue of Islam and citizenship rights.

In 1994, scholar Martin Kramer reported on the extremist background of Mr. Ghannouchi. According to that report:

Assuming a valid distinction can be made between Islamists who are “extremist” and “reformist,” Ghannouchi clearly belongs to the first category. Since his last visit to the United States, he has openly threatened U.S. interests, supported Iraq against the United States and campaigned against the Arab-Israeli peace process. Indeed, Ghannouchi in exile has personified the rejection of U.S. policies, even as he dispatches missives to the State Department.

Kramer notes the following statement by Mr. Ghannouchi in which he alleges that Jews are behind a “worldwide campaign against Islam”:....

Posted by Marisol on May 21, 2011 9:20 AM