MEMRI TV Clip Of Imam's Antisemitic Sermon In Denmark Leads To Legal Action Against Him

Over the past two years, MEMRI has translated numerous sermons by sheikhs in Europe containing anti-Christian and anti-Jewish incitement, incitement to violence and jihad, and pro-ISIS and other jihadi content. In many cases, these MEMRI translations have led to arrests, criminal charges, and other legal action against the sheikhs.

Most recently, on November 14, 2016, Danish media reported that police prosecutors in Denmark had indicted one such imam, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Khaled Samha, for violating Article 266b of Denmark's penal code, for which he could face a fine or up to two years in prison. One report also included the MEMRI TV clip.

In September 2014, MEMRI TV released a clip of Al-Khaled Samha, who is an imam at an mosque run by the Islamic Society in Denmark (Islamisk Trossamfund) in the Odense suburb of Vollsmose,[1] speaking at a mosque in Odense. He called the Jews "the offspring of apes and pigs" and adding "Oh Muslim, oh Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

After the clip was released, Danish authorities began looking into legal action against him.

To view the clip, click here or below.

According to reports, it took two years to indict Samha because the matter had first been submitted to the public prosecutor and then sent to the prosecutor general, who eventually sent it back to police. It was also reported that prosecutors were considering action against him for engaging in spreading propaganda. The case is slated to be heard in a court in Odense, Denmark, where the offense was committed, on December 20, 2016.

Years before his statements at the Odense mosque, in September 2006, it was reported in Germany that a suspect in a botched August 2006 plot to bomb two trains in Germany, was found to have Al-Khaled Samha's phone number in his pocket. Al-Khaled Samha had denied knowing the suspect, but said it was a matter of time before terrorists would strike Denmark: "Osama bin Laden said in a message three years ago that he will punish the countries" that have troops in Iraq, he said in an interview.[2] According to another report, he told the Associated Press that he knew the suspects.[3] According to Danish media reports, he knew four of the suspects,[4] and one had a train ticket to Odense.[5]

Prior to that, Al-Khaled Samha was a member of the delegation that in December 2005 travelled to Egypt and the Middle East to publicize the publication the previous September of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, leading to the widespread controversy over the matter.[6]

The following are excerpts of Al-Khaled Samha's statements in the September 2014 MEMRI TV clip: 

Muhammad Al-Khaled Samha: "[Palestine] is a blessed and sacred land, and the people living there are blessed and sacred. Its air is sacred, its soil is sacred, and its people are sacred and blessed. These are not my own words, but the words of Allah in the Koran. So how can we - or any free Muslim with faith in his heart - accept the division of Palestine between [the Palestinians] and a gang of Jews, the offspring of apes and pigs? [...]

"Oh beloved ones, the land of Palestine is Islamic waqf, by consensus of the scholars of the Islamic nation. Whoever relinquishes even a single inch of it is betraying Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. Mahmoud Abbas and his ilk can relinquish their right to their homes, but there is no doubt whatsoever that they do not have the right to relinquish the right of the Islamic nation to Palestine.

"Palestine has been and will remain the land of Islam. It is the land of Islam - a sacred and blessed land. It is the land of the gathering and resurrection [on Judgment Day]. It is the land of the great battle, in which the Muslims will fight the Jews, and the trees and the stones will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.'"

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