An American Imam has claimed that Israel was responsible for the October 7 attacks, in an exclusive interview with GB News.
The Imam said of the Jews killed on October 7 that “absolutely some of their people” were killed by the Israel Defence Forces, saying that it was “at minimum friendly fire”.
Shaykh AbdulKarim Yahya, an instructor at the Dar Al-Rahma Mosque in Detroit, Michigan, made the claims despite Hamas admitting to carrying out the attacks and describing their massacre of Jews as “a necessary step and a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people”.
Shaykh AbdulKarim Yahya claimed Israel's Defence Force killed Jews on October 7
GBN America
GB News confronted a series of American Imams over their past comments, including Yahya’s retweeting: "Were every Muslim only to spit simultaneously at Israel, it would drown."
Yahya explained the comment as meaning “were all of the Muslims to show a little effort to assist our brothers and sisters in Palestine, what's taking place will be stopped”.
When asked whether the Imam likes America, he said: “I like North America. I like the homeland… The system that's been imposed here, absolutely not. No, I don't.”
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom with GB News' Steven Edginton
GBN America
After being asked again whether he liked the United States, Yahya replied: “They call it that. Yeah, they call it that.”
Another Detroit-based Imam, Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom, defended his pro-Iran comments in a fiery interview with GB News.
GB News interviewed the Imams as a part of documentary on how Muslims have changed American cities
Elahi has praised various Iranian leaders, including Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran between 2013 and 2021, who Elahi said he had known for 37 years and in 2013 said he “admire[d]…his ethical character and moral values”.
When asked why he had supported these Iranian leaders when they were part of a regime that funded terrorist groups and tortures their citizens, the Imam replied: “As we have Islamophobia, unfortunately, there is Iranophobia as well. There is Shia phobia as well. So a lot of this stuff that we hear about Iran, that's not true either.”
Iran is infamous for locking up political prisoners, funding the terrorist group Hezbollah, and lashing women who refuse to wear Islamic headdresses.
Discussing Iran’s funding of Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organisation that is known for targeting Israeli civilians, the Imam said: “Now you are talking about Hezbollah. So, you know, then we are talking about Israel. Hezbollah never attacked Israel and occupying [sic] the Israelis’ territories.”
He continued: “It was Israel who was occupying Lebanon, and they were defending, calling for freedom and liberation of their lands. So I'm not saying that is not for me to support or not to support. I'm talking about the reality.”
Elahi also claimed in his interview with GB News that “Lebanon is looking for peace. Even Palestinian [sic], even Hamas, they are asking for [sic] long, long ceasefire.”
The Imam said if Israel didn’t occupy these territories and “leave people alone” then “nobody” would be fighting.
We repeatedly asked the Imam whether he supported the death penalty for Muslims who leave the religion, known as apostasy, to which he said the issue was “controversial” and eventually said that he personally doesn’t support it.
GB News also interviewed Muthanna Al-Hanooti, an official at the Mosque the Islamic Centre of Detroit, who tweeted in response to Democrat politicians condemning the October 7 attacks, “Bad luck, the Zionists bought it…” and “Welcome to the sell-outs club…how about the Israel 75 yr old brutal occupation of Palestine?”.
When asked whether by making these comments he was denying the massacre, at first Al-Hanooti denied writing the tweets before confirming he had done so and regretted making the comments.
The interviews were part of America's Muslim City - a special documentary.
The film explores how Islam has changed Dearborn and Hamtramck in Michigan, including through laws allowing for animal sacrifice in people's back yards, bans on LGBT flags and the public call to prayer.