Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: Yes to Dialogue with Christians, No with Jews.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, which aired on Qatar TV on May 28, 2005

Qaradhawi: I have said that we have a dialogue with the Christians but we have no dialogue with the Jews. The Jews plundered our land, the land of Palestine. They did not settle for establishing a state, but occupied what was left of Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza - from 1967 to this day. They do unto our brothers all those things every day. How can we shake hands with them? Some say: Not all the Jews… No! 99% of the Jews, or at the very least, 95% of the Jews agree on the Zionist state. All Jews are Zionists, excepts for a very few. The Jews are Zionists. They claim this is the promised land, the land that God promised them, and so they must take it. They strive to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jews support (Israel) with money. They help it morally, politically, and in every possible way. We cannot allow… the Jews to… I was at a luncheon during a conference along with the (Qatari) prime minister, and he asked how I would feel if the Jews joined the next conference. I said: "No. I totally object. I will call on people to oppose it. I ask the Emir to reconsider." The Jews, no, no… They kill our brothers in Rafah and the next day we will host them in Qatar? We will sit down to eat with them? May they choke on their food. We cannot shake these people's hands. When Shimon Peres visited Qatar after the Qana (village) massacre, I said that whoever shakes that man's hand should wash his hands seven times, one time with earth.