The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On October 26, 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump invited several members of Michigan's Muslim community to join him onstage during a campaign rally in the state ahead of the November U.S. presidential election. The members, described by Trump's campaign as "prominent leaders of Michigan's Muslim community," included imam Belal Al-Zuhairi, who stated the community's support for Trump, citing his commitment to promote "peace" and "end war in the Middle East and Ukraine."[1]
On October 28, a radical group based in Birmingham, UK posted a 50-second video on Telegram[2] showing Al-Zuhairi's statement, referring to him as an "imam" in quotation marks. The video features an English-language excerpt by Musa Abdullah Jibril, a Michigan-based pro-Islamic State (ISIS) preacher, criticizing "those who remained silent in the face of oppression, or chose to side with the evil rulers over your righteous brothers, or claimed the lesser of the two evils and voted in an election that leads to disbelief…"
Accusing such people of being "fooled" by "mere words" and prioritizing them over Allah's law, the excerpt asserts: "The blood of innocent people are [sic] on your hands along with your leaders. The destruction of lands is on you." It condemns them as "Jews of the qiblah [the Islamic direction of prayer towards Mecca]," and accuses them of having "sold their religion, knowledge, and devotional act for a worldly benefit. They sold the hereafter for a cheap price. May the eyes of the cowards never sleep!"
The video concludes with a September 5 statement by Trump at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit, assuring that the U.S. under his leadership would support "Israel's right to win its war on terror," adding: "We will win fast; you have to win fast."
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