Hammad Kabbaj denies allegations of being an antisemitic which were made by Moroccan Mohamed Tijini.
In a 30-minute episode aired on his private TV channel, Maghreb TV, Tijini lashed out at the Justice and Development Party’s electoral nominee, Hammad Kabbaj and accused him of antisemitism.
In response to the attack, the controversial Salafist nominee wrote a Facebook post explaining his position on antisemitism. Kabbaj said he was shocked by Tijini’s accusations.
In his post, Kabbaj made a distinction between the Jews as holders of a faith and the Zionists as holders of a “deadly “ideology:
“What I believe in is that coexistence with Jews and Christians is a religious and a national duty, and I have numerous articles and lectures in this regard … At the same time, I utterly denounce the injustice of the Zionist Jews inflicted upon the Palestinians that has gone as far as committing horrifying terrorist massacres. From Sabra and Shatila to the massacre of Gaza that claimed the lives of 1400 Palestinians half of which are women and children,” he explained.
Kabbaj continued that he had participated in a number of international conferences with Jewish and Christian scholars and investigated the issue of peace and coexistence, and inquired about the Moroccan TV anchor’s reasons for his accusations.
Kabbaj also noted that a priest approached him after one of the conferences saying: “I admire your moderate intellect, which will doubtlessly reinforce peace and security in a world ample with injustice and hate.”
The nominee on the PJD, Hammad Kabbaj concluded his post by calling Mohamed Tijini to stand with “the Muslims and the peaceful Jews, and not with the killers.”