There comes a time when silence is a crime. There comes a moment when smiles in the wrong place sting deeper than swords. And this moment, right here, is one of them.
When the cries of orphans echo through the rubble of Gaza and the prayers of wounded souls rise from the ashes of their destroyed homes, what kind of heartless leader finds time to smile alongside their murderers? What kind of imam, who claims to carry the message of mercy, chooses to shake hands with oppressors whose hands are stained red with the blood of innocent children?
Recently, a group of European based imams walked proudly through the streets of occupied Palestine, pretending it was Israel. They posed for cameras, stood beneath stolen skies, and sang the anthem of an apartheid regime in Arabic, as if the translation could soften the reality. But peace is not a photo opportunity. Peace is not a transaction funded by lobby groups and war criminals. Peace is justice. And there is no justice in betrayal.
They Did Not Build Bridges. They Burned Them.
These men were given a voice to speak for the voiceless. A platform to defend the oppressed. A responsibility to carry the pain of their people on their shoulders. But instead of standing with Gaza, they stood with those who bombed it. Instead of visiting refugee camps where children sleep hungry, they toured the marble halls of those who made them refugees.
They call it bridge building. But you do not build bridges on the bodies of martyrs. You do not build peace by ignoring genocide. What they built was not a bridge. It was a stage for their own cowardice.
Puppets of the Powerful
Let us not pretend these imams found their way to Israel out of sincerity. They were flown in, funded, and presented by ELNET, a pro Israel lobby that thrives on finding Muslims willing to sell their dignity for a seat at the oppressor’s table. These imams were paraded as trophies. “Look,” they say, “even the Muslims support us.” But these are not our representatives. These are not our voices. These are sellouts, plain and simple.
They did not walk the alleys of Sheikh Jarrah, where families are dragged from their homes in the night. They did not pray in the rubble of bombed mosques in Gaza. They did not wipe the tears of mothers whose children became hashtags. No. They smiled, they nodded, they applauded. They normalized occupation.
Silence When It Mattered Most
Where were your voices when Gaza burned last Ramadan? Where was your outrage when Israeli forces stormed Al Aqsa Mosque and beat unarmed worshippers? Where was your mercy when Palestinian doctors carried dying children in their arms because the hospitals had no power left to save them? Silent. Absent. Nowhere to be found.
But suddenly, in the marble halls of the Knesset, you find your voice. A voice that echoes not the pain of your people, but the approval of your oppressors. What kind of leadership is this? What kind of Islam are you preaching when you dine with tyrants and turn your back on the oppressed?
This Is Not Dialogue. This Is Deception.
Dialogue without truth is deception. Peace without justice is surrender. And visits like these are not about building peace. They are about erasing crimes. Whitewashing oppression. Normalizing apartheid.
There is no courage in visiting the Knesset while Gaza’s streets run red. There is no honor in praising Israeli “democracy” while millions of Palestinians are denied the right to vote, denied the right to live, denied the right to exist.
A Message to the Imams
You stood in the land where prophets walked. A land soaked in the blood of the oppressed. And what did you do? You smiled for the camera. You betrayed the suffering. You silenced the truth for a seat at a poisoned table.
While you stood smiling in the enemy’s courts, we were standing in the streets, collecting donations to feed Gaza’s hungry. While you shook hands with murderers, we were holding the hands of orphans whose fathers will never return. While you applauded the occupiers, we listened to Palestinian mothers sobbing on the phone, telling us they had no water to give their children and no roof to protect them from the bombs.
Every single campaign we run, every fundraiser we organize, we hear the pain. We hear the voices of those who lost their entire families in one night. We carry their tears in our prayers and their struggle in our hearts. And here you are, selling their suffering for your fifteen minutes of fame. You sold your souls to the devil, and you called it peace.
You should be stripped of your titles. Your communities should no longer call you imams. You should be remembered in your countries as the faces of shame. As the ones who stood with tyrants when your people cried for justice. Let your names be a reminder of cowardice for generations to come.
Remember this. History does not forget cowards. Your titles will fade. Your photos will be forgotten. But the people of Palestine, the orphans of Gaza, the mothers of the West Bank, they will remember that when they called for help, you chose comfort over courage. You chose power over principle. You chose shame over justice.
If you wanted to be messengers of peace, you should have first been messengers of truth. There is no peace without truth. No justice without honesty. And no dignity in betrayal.
In Conclusion
The Palestinian cause does not need your handshakes. It does not need your carefully staged photos. It needs your courage. It needs your tears when the world forgets Gaza. It needs your voice when the world silences Palestine.
The Palestinian people do not need imams who sit with tyrants. They need leaders who stand with the oppressed, who cry with the brokenhearted, who refuse to bow to the powerful.
This visit was not a bridge to peace. It was a bridge to shame. And may Allah protect us from leaders who sell their souls while claiming to represent our faith.
