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The following video is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On March 12, 2021, Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda, released a new video featuring audio of the group's leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, condemning the government of Myanmar for its treatment of the Rohingya minority and calling on the mujahideen to target the interests of Myanmar worldwide. In the video, titled "The Wound Of The Rohingya Is The Wound Of The Ummah," Al-Zawahiri condemned the West for failing to impose sanctions on the government of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The video also mentioned that the crimes committed against the Rohingya are no different from those committed against Muslims in Syria, the Uyghur in China, and the Muslims in Kashmir, and accused France of bombing Muslims in Mali and the U.S. of killing innocent people in Afghanistan. The video also included a clip with Gaza-based cleric Mahmoud Al-Hasanat.
Narrator: "The military coup in Myanmar has been making headlines in the news these past days. However, what many Muslims fear is that this coup may well prove to be a mere cover for a new genocide of the Rohingyan Muslims and the massacres that reached their peak in the era of the West's darling, Su Chi, may continue."
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "The entire world has witnessed the countless massacres that the Rohingyan Muslims have been subjected to in Myanmar in recent years, yet no tangible steps have been taken by the world community to address the problem except slight condemnation and token gestures of humanitarian aid."
Narrator: "The latest coup has shaken the governments and organizations in the hypocritical Western World for which the idol of democracy is more sacrosanct than the slaughter of thousands of innocent people and the forced displacement of millions."
Dr. Thomas MacManus: "This pressure that the international community is putting on, it is about democracy. It's about whoever was arrested, whoever was in charge being arrested in a coup that the international community is going to put pressure to resist this attack on democracy and since she is the personification of this attack, but it’s the attack on democracy that we really are concerned about."
Narrator: "After the news of the military coup broke, Western media and diplomats went overboard to defend the 'democratic' government of Myanmar that had been an active participant in the genocide of the Rohingyan Muslims and the subsequent cover up of the crimes. This it did by exploiting the blank cheque given to Su Chi by the West in the form of the Nobel Prize for 'Peace.'"
MacManus: "Aung San Su Chi had built up a lot of political capital through the years, she is a Nobel Peace prize winner and she used this capital to provide cover for the military to carry out their operations. Every time the international community came in and said, 'look we have reports we have evidence,' they were frankly bamboozled by Aung San Su Chi to provide cover for the military to carry out a genocidal campaign. This is complicity in genocide and Aung San Su Chi should be investigated for complicity in genocide."
Narrator: "Instead of holding this government accountable for its abetment in the crimes committed by the military, Western governments and organizations strongly backed it and are today demanding its return."
U.S. President Joe Biden: "The Burmese military should relinquish the power they have seized, release the advocates and activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions on telecommunications and refrain from violence."
Al-Zawahiri: "As for the so-called 'democratic' government of Myanmar, upon which the West had lavished much praise for its success in establishing a blind 'democratic' order, no sanctions whatsoever were imposed on it, no campaign was launched against it and no alliance was formed to stop its crimes, in spite of the fact that the crime is well-documented and in graphic, horrendous detail. The reason for this hypocrisy is simple: the victims are Muslims."
Narrator: "Western governments and organizations strongly backed it and are today demanding its return. Pride in the policies of the war criminal Su Chi used to say openly."
Hu Wilaso: "Our main threat are the Muslims who marry many women and have lots of children. Quite simply because they want to become the majority in Myanmar. The government made the right decision. It no longer uses the word Rohingya. It says they are illegal immigrants who belong in camps. It's even prepared to send them to another country."
Narrator: "To implement the policy of forced displacement – a policy framed by a government pampered by the West – the criminals of Myanmar used all imaginable forms of oppression: cutting off the heads of breast-feeding children, tearing open the wombs of pregnant women, shooting men from Muslim villages in their heads, arson and systematic destruction of Muslim villages."
Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hasanat: "Can there be pain worse than this pain? Can there be a tragedy worse than this tragedy? Extreme suffering, forced displacement, killings, slaughter, torture, mutilation, dismemberment, burning alive... Day and night... Their condition speaks for itself... The father, the mother, the son... If anyone lives to migrate... By Allah, Oh Burma! You are the dearest of all places to me! If your people were to evict me from you, I would not leave...
"Is there pain after this pain? Oh Arab countries! Oh Muslim countries! Can there be pain worse than this pain? The worshippers of the Buddha aggressed against the worshippers of our Creator, yet there is no sign of brotherhood! The worshippers of the Buddha aggressed against the worshippers of our Creator, yet there is no sign of brotherhood! The condition of these children speaks for itself... We will be enslaved or expelled, Oh father! We will be enslaved, expelled and destroyed... Until when will the enemies continue to aggress upon us?"
Narrator: "Even worse, before their forced eviction, Muslims were ordered to build new homes for the Buddhist colonists, that too from their own meager resources. This happened in spite of the abject poverty they had lived in."
Rohingya man 1: "A few years ago, the government decided to bring Buddhists from around Myanmar and settle them on our land. We, the Rohingya, had to build their homes with our own funds. Our properties were confiscated for them. We call those people Natala."
Rohingya man 2: "I was forced to build their village for a month with my money, my savings. They took the bread from our mouths and killed us."
Narrator: "Those who escaped death faced a life of humiliation in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. This honorable old man accompanies the journalists to meet the family of his brother, the Imam of the village mosque. His wife offers us a glimpse of their ordeal at the hands of the criminals in Myanmar."
Wife of village Imam: "After arresting him and hitting him on the head with a baton they gathered us all together and chose ten men. They made them kneel in the river like this, with their hands up. Then they took them away. They're racists. That's why the soldiers and the Buddhist militia acted together. It's why they burned down our homes and drove us from our land."
Narrator: "The pain that this believing woman hides in her heart is too severe to be narrated by her. In spite of the horrendous nature of the genocide and racial cleansing of the Muslims of Rohingya, the 'world community' has remained silent, if not passively supportive of these crimes. The reason is simple: the victims are Muslims, not Christians, Buddhists or atheists – the occupants of the five permanent seats in the UN Security Council."
Osama bin Laden: "And I say, clarifying their domination of the Security Council, that Crusader International and pagan Buddhism hold the 5 permanent seats and what is called the privilege of the right of veto in what is called the Security Council. America and Britain represent the Protestant Christians, Russia represents the Orthodox Christians, and France represents the Catholic Christians, while China represents the Buddhists and pagans of the world.
"As for the Islamic world, it is represented by 57 countries, and comprises a fifth of the world's people, and more than a fourth of the countries in the UN. And one province of one Islamic state, like the Punjab in Pakistan, has a population larger than that of France and Britain. And moreover, one province of one Islamic state, like Darfur in the Sudan, has a lang area larger than Britain's and close to that of France, yet it has no seat in the Security Council. And here I am not asking for that, because that is wrong, but am simply describing the facts of the matter. The UN is an organization of unbelief and he who is pleased with its laws is an unbeliever. It is a tool used to implement the Zionist/Crusader resolution, including the declarations of war against us and the division and occupation of our land."
Narrator: "The hypocritical world community collaborated with the criminal Burmese army, the 'democratic' government pampered by the West and its blood-thirsty Buddhist supporters in the killing and forced eviction of Muslims from their homeland. To comprehend the scale of this crime, let us witness this enticement of Buddhist colonists by an officer of the Burmese army."
Burmese officer: "That's why they're a threat to our ethnic minorities. They want to invade the whole of the Rakine province. Then they'll invade and control the whole country. That's what they have in mind. We have no reason to fear them."
Narrator: "The genocide of the Muslims of Myanmar was carefully orchestrated, using death, destruction, siege, and force displacement as tools."
Burmese officer: "We will crush them hard and fast. No doubt about it. Soon we will cleanse their village. One group of soldiers will purify the zone, while another stops the Rohingya from escaping."
Matthew Smith: "He was essentially describing what the military ended up doing, which was attacking Rohingya villages, in some cases blocking them from fleeing and then massacring them, and in other cases, just driving them out towards Bangladesh."
Burmese officer: "We have no backpacks, no food, and we don't sleep. We've come to defeat them with our bullets and guns. We rely on you to help us. Prove your courage. Arm yourselves with machetes and sticks. Even the elderly and children must join the fight."
Smith: "The soldier is encouraging the civilians to themselves take up arms. And so, we ended up seeing this... This ended up taking place. Villagers were armed with farming equipment, with long swords, with knives, in some cases with firearms, and they flanked Myanmar army soldiers and police. A witness described it to us, after watching some of these trainings. They described it to us as: 'they were being trained to kill.'"
Narrator: "These crimes took place amidst a deafening silence of Western governments. The response of the governments in the Muslim world was not too different either."
Al-Zawahiri: "Unfortunately, the response to these massacres by the governments in the Muslim world was no different from the Western response. And this should come as no surprise, since these governments are essentially a Western creation, client regimes imposed on Muslims for the protection of Western interests."
Narrator: "Of the criminals in Burma and the hypocritical Western world, no less criminal than the oppression they faced in Burma [sic]. This should come as no surprise, since the government in Bangladesh is run by thugs."
Haris Ahmad: "Benazir is there. RAB is there, others are there. We are making them do all the work. My gangsters are RAB. I don't need thugs. They are my thugs. They pick people up and detain them. They do the work. The police are our thugs. Who needs regular thugs? Whoever has links with the police and the blessing of the administration. They are the real thugs."
Narrator: "This criminal gang in Bangladesh has taken upon itself to complete the task Of the criminals in Burma and the hypocritical Western world. The refugees who were living a life of squalor in the refugee camps and had hoped to return to their lands one day, were driven out of these camps by force by the Bangladeshi government and dispatched to remote deserted islands, which are under constant threats of tsunamis. And in this fashion, this criminal government got rid of these refugees and completed the mission of the government and army of Myanmar.
"This is hardly strange since the Bangladeshi government is essentially a mafia-led entity committed to fighting Islam and Muslims in Bangladesh. It commits crimes against the Muslims of Bangladesh in the same fashion as the Buddhists commit against the Rohingya.
Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hasanat: "The ummah's emirs are drunk... the ummah's emirs are drunk... music entertains their ears... The ummah's scholars are absorbed in their vanity... Where are the scholars? Where are the callers to Tauheed? Where are the preachers? Where are the callers to faith? Where are the Muslims? Are they not our brothers? Are they not our loved ones? Do they not say that Allah is their lord? Is it not my mother and your mother? Is it not my sister and your sister?"
Al-Zawahiri: "Thus, I shall not waste my words on the petty criminals in Myanmar, nor on the bigger criminals in the Western World or for that matter the client, slavish regimes that have outlived their shelf life in the Muslim World. My message is for my Muslim brothers in Burma and for the Muslims the world over. To them I say: Beggars are not the chooser. This is the law of history. This is why the Quran draws our attention to this fundamental reality. Allah [sic] says: 'and if Allah did not check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief. But Allah is full of Bounty to the 'Alamin [mankind, jinns and all that exists].'
"And He says: 'and why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated [and oppressed]? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help.' And the Almighty says: 'then fight [O Muhammed SAW] in the Cause of Allah, you are not tasked [held responsible] it may be that Allah will restrain the evil might of the disbelievers. And Allah is Stronger in Might and Stronger in punishing.'
"And the Glorious Lord says: 'the prohibited month for the prohibited month, and so for all things prohibited, there is the law of equality. If anyone transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him. But fear Allah, and know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves.' Therefore, this criminal Buddhist government that has been pampered by the West shall not be deterred except by force and by making it pay the price of its aggression within and beyond Myanmar. This is a binding duty on the entire ummah.'"
Narrator: "An ummah whose woes have multiplied and its enemies have gathered against it from every nook and corner... The tragedy of our Rohingyan brothers and sisters is the same tragedy that has afflicted our people in Syria. Bombings, displacement, dishonorable life in refugee camps all bear witness to the criminality of the international forces of disbelief. The situation in Kashmir, where our people faced the worst possible forms with oppression and torture, is not too dissimilar.
"As for the oppression faced by the Uyghur Muslims, the criminality of the Chinese government has crossed all limits. Women are subjected to rape in concentration camps and are forcibly sterilized so that they are unable to bear children. Chinese diplomats in America have the audacity to say that this is something for which the world should be grateful to China!
"The criminal French government continues to bomb civilians in the Islamic Maghreb, specifically in Mali. In response to the killing of its invading soldiers, the French occupation bombs wedding ceremonies and forcibly evicts millions from their homes. the Americans likewise continue their policy of bombing innocent civilians in Afghanistan. The situation of our people in Somalia is no better for the forces of disbelief have gathered against them from all directions and have committed the worst possible atrocities against them. This then is the situation of an ummah whose tragedies or unending and whose wounds many."
Al-Zawahiri: "The wound of the Rohingya Muslims as the wound of the ummah in its entirety. Our enemies shall try to divide us. They will say to the Egyptian: your concern is Egypt alone... To the Maghrebi they shall say: Your concern is to the Maghreb alone... and so forth to the Syrian, the Indian, the Chechen, the Philippine, the Somali and the rest. And if you step over the boundaries that we have enclosed and imprisoned you in, you are an international terrorist. We shall put your name In the list of wanted terrorists place sanctions on you and engage with you with bombs and missiles."
Narrator: "Yes, everyone is a terrorist. International disbelief no longer discriminates between Muslims on the basis of their nationality or ideological leanings. Every Muslim has become an enemy that must be fought against and eliminated."
Thiabault De Montbrial: "We need to understand that there is one thing that must be kept in mind: In the last few years Western countries have started to fathom the threat of terrorism. Everyone has started realizing the threat that terrorism poses. The cries of 'war on terrorism' have grown louder and louder. However terrorism is only the operational theater. It is a tool. The terrorism is the politic. The real enemy is not terrorism. Over the course of history there were several terrorist organizations in Europe.
"The operational pattern is a separate thing, the ideology that lies behind it represents the real danger. The Islamic ideology operates on two major levels. The first: political violence or terrorism. This occupies our attention because it has a demonstrative effect, because it scares us, because we are afraid for ourselves and our dear ones. The real danger, however, are the Islamic ideologues who engage in clear-cut duplicity. They distance themselves somewhat from the terrorists by saying that they do not engage in violence, in other words they are not dangerous. While in reality the goals are the same for both sides these are two separate roads that lead to the same destination."
Interviewer: "Claude do you have the same opinion about the political goals of Islamic fundamentalism? The Muslim Brotherhood comes to mind."
Claude: "Yes, yes... the Muslim Brotherhood and other such organizations..."
Narrator: "Those who work for the Islamic cause must unite their ranks, irrespective of their nationalities and ideological leanings, for the enemy no longer discriminates between them. Needless to say, discord and division leads to failure and setbacks."
Al-Zawahiri: "And this is unacceptable for every honorable Muslim who is chivalrous with respect to his Ummah and it's sanctities, believes truly in Allah as his Lord, Islam as his Religion, and Muhammed as his Prophet and messenger and follows what reaches him from his Lord. The Prophet [peace be upon him] said, 'The blood of the believers is equal, they are a single entity against their enemies, and their oaths are mutually binding.'
"My Muslim brothers, my Mujahid brothers, my free honorable brothers who reject oppression! This is the way forward: Striking the interests of Myanmar and the criminals of Myanmar wherever we are able to do so. 'Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people, and remove the rage of their hearts.' And Allah turns [mercifully] to whom He pleases. And Allah is Knowing, Wise' and our last prayer is that all praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. And may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and Companions. Wassalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu!"
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