And he called for the “formation of a special division to liberate Jerusalem were the decision to be implemented.”
It’s interesting how Western policy analysts routinely and universally treat the Israeli- “Palestinian” conflict as if it were a matter of land and could be settled by negotiations, while Muslim spokesmen worldwide routinely and universally treat it as an Islamic matter. Mainstream Western analysts, every last one of them, completely discounts the role of Islam when evaluating this conflict. Yet it is central.
Al-Sadr and many others are trying to make this move of the embassy into a showdown. They are trying to make President Trump back down, which would set an extremely damaging precedent. Many of the same mainstream Western analysts will insist that he must back down, precisely so as to avoid the showdown that the Muslim leaders are trying to stir up. It is likely that they are just blustering. But if the administration backs down and the showdown is averted, those analysts would be kidding themselves if they didn’t realize that it is coming sooner or later anyway.
“Moving US embassy in Israel will be declaration of war on Islam, says cleric,” AFP, January 24, 2017:
Moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a declaration of war on Islam, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Tuesday.
In a break with previous administrations, new US President Donald Trump has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric whose militia once fought US occupation forces in Iraq, called for the “formation of a special division to liberate Jerusalem were the decision to be implemented.”
Sadr said the Cairo-based Arab League as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s main pan-Islamic body, should take a decisive stand on the issue or dissolve themselves.
The Najaf-based cleric also called “for the immediate closure of the US embassy in Iraq” should Washington go ahead with its promised embassy transfer in Israel….