Following are excerpts from a sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, which aired on Syrian TV on June 28, 2013.
Syrian preacher: Let us take a look at the history of mankind, which has recorded the true nature of the Jews, the slayers of prophets and violators of agreements. It shows how they have tried, since pre-Islamic times, to fragment, divide, and rip apart the Arab and Islamic nation.
In an effort to gain influence in the world and to realize their desires, the Jews have set two basic goals. Listen, oh Muslims, and beware of what is happening in Syria – in that land with steadfast people and leadership.
They have two basic goals. The first is to divide the nations of the world, to pit them one against the other, and to spark war and civil strife among them. The second goal is to rip apart the nations of the world, destroying their notions, moral values, and codes, and making them stray from the path of Allah.
That is what they did throughout the ages all over the world. Oh nation of Islam, the Jews have been tearing this nation apart for many years.
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What is happening today in this steadfast fortress [Syria], and in the Middle East in general, is nothing new. It was premeditated.
We are a nation in slumber, a nation that does not study the books of history, and has not studied what its enemies are plotting and devising against it. They kindled the spark of civil strife in Palestine and in Afghanistan, and then in Iraq, then in Egypt, and after that, in Syria.
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