Al Azhar's Grand Imam, Islamic Countries and Gaza

By S. Arshad, New Age Islam 30 July 2025 Grand Imam of Al Azhar withdraws statement under pressure from Al Sisi Main Points: 1. Grand Imam had condemned Israel's atrocities in Gaza. 2. Al Sisi is complicit to the genocide in Gaza. 3. King of Jordan makes profit from Gaza aid. 4. Jordan contributes minimally to Gaza aid. ----- Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayeb ---- On July 22, 2025, the Grand Imam of Egypt's prestigious religious and academic institution Al Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayeb released a statement condemning Israel's genocidal war and weaponisation of starvation in Gaza and appealed to the global community to take action against Israel. However, he also castigated indirectly the Islamic countries for supplying weapons to and collaborating with Israel in the war against unarmed Gazan population. The statement said: "Anyone who provides this entity with weapons, supports it through political resolutions or offers hypocritical words of encouragement is a partner in this genocide." Unfortunately, Al Azhar deleted its statement from its official website the next day and issued a clarification. The statement said: "It took the initiative to withdraw its statement with courage and responsibility before God when it realised that the statement could impact the ongoing negotiations regarding a humanitarian truce in Gaza to save innocent lives. Al Azhar has prioritised the interests of preventing the daily bloodshed in Gaza hoping that the negotiations will lead to an immediate halt to the bloodshed and provide the most basic necessities of life, of which the oppressed Palestinian people have been deprived." Ironically, what Al Azhar described as 'courageous' and 'responsible' was in fact cowardice and love for wordily luxuries because it was later revealed by the sources close to Al Tayyab that the Egypt 's foreign minister Badr Abdelaty had ordered Al Tayyab to remove the statement to 'avoid derailing sensitive negotiations over humanitarian aid to Gaza.' Now that the negotiations have come to a halt with both the sides blaming each other for being inflexible, no body is accusing Al Azhar of derailing the negotiations. Actually, the negotiations have not been derailed even by the statement issued by 28 European countries right in the midst of the negotiations. The statement had condemned Israel's atrocities in Gaza and called Israel's weaponisation of hunger a war crime. The statement was not even withdrawn by the European countries but neither Israel nor Hamas has accused the European countries of derailing the negotiations. The truth is that the statement of the Al Azhar not only caused concern to Israel but also to Al Sisi. The Grand Imam had also issued a strong statement against the Israeli attack in Gaza in March when it had launched fresh attacks after the abrupt end of two month truce. Then Al Sisi government had not pressurised the Grand Imam to remove his statement because he had only criticised Israel and the US for the attacks on Gaza. But this time the Grand Imam had also indirectly held the Islamic countries particularly the neighbouring countries Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt responsible and accountable for the war crimes in Gaza. This caused concern not only to Israel but also to Egypt, Turkey and Jordan who have been collaborating and co-operating with Israel in the attacks and in weaponising starvation in Gaza. They feared that Ahmad Al-Tayeb's statement might provoke a revolt against their authority as the people are already seething in anger and anxiety over their role in this war. Israel is not concerned about the protests and statements of the far-off European countries but about the mood of the people and the governments of the neighbouring Islamic countries because their support and complicity is important and critical for Israel's plans in Gaza. Israel has adopted a carrot and stick policy vis a vis neighbouring Islamic countries. It has made it clear to them that if they oppose its actions and plans in Gaza, they will meet the same fate as the scientists, army generals and political figures of Iran. If they can strike them 2000 kilometre away, they will be an easy target because of their weak army and intelligence system and because of their proximity. With that, Israel has provided them an opportunity to do trade with it and earn more profit when European countries have boycotted Israel or have not been able to do trade with it because of the attacks of the Houthis in the Red Sea. For example, Jordan has been given the sole responsibility to supervise and co-ordinate with the aid passing through its land. This has been a profit making venture for Jordan who contributes minimally to the aid for Gaza. According to a report published by the Middle East Eye, Jordan charges $2200 per aid truck and $200,000 to $400,000 per airdrop though a cargo plane contains only half a truck aid material. The Gazans have criticised the policy of airdrops because they are a hazard and airdrops do not meet their requirements. Still Jordan likes to airdrop aid because of its high profitability. Now, Israel has allowed UAE also to conduct airdrops because of its defence collaboration and billion dollar investments in the US and Israel. This decision of Israel has less to do with sending aid to Gaza and more to do with helping and returning favours to Jordan and the UAE. Jordan's government body Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organisation oversees and co-ordinates with the aid supply and airdrops. Jordan has also built additional storage houses and acquired 200 more trucks with an eye on the prolonged Israel Hamas war and more aid business. All the profit from the business of aid at the cost of the hungry Gazans goes directly to the Jordanian army. Since, airdrops generate more profit for Jordan, it does not pursue Israel to allow aid trucks into Gaza, also because Jordan, Egypt or Turkey are not regarded as equal partners by Israel but as stooges, slaves or ‘Yes-Men’. They can not put pressure on Israel to allow more aid trucks into Gaza for the starving people. The report of the Middle East Eye exposed the hypocrisy of the King of Jordan hinted at in the statement of Al Azhar and the Jordanian government refuted the report as malice and an attempt to malign the image of the Hashemite kingdom and of King of Jordan who is known for his oratorial skills. The government accused Muslim Brotherhood of backing the website because the government had banned it. Turkey has also done trade with Israel as a long standing friend of Israel. In fact, Turkey was the first country to recognise Israel in 1949 but since Erdogan claims to be the messiah of the Islamic world and acts as the self proclaimed caliph of the Muslim Ummah, he was expected to cut off all ties with Israel after the Gaza war and its blockade of aid into Gaza but practically, Turkey's trade has only increased during Gaza war. Turkey sent tomatoes and other food items to Israel to save the Israelis from starvation. Turkey has oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey. From there, oil goes to Israel in tankers. To conceal all this, Erdogan occasionally issues harsh statements against Israel even calling it a 'terrorist state' but in practice he is a collaborator in the genocide in Gaza. Last week, an opposition leader of Turkey exposed his double standards and hypocrisy in the Turkish parliament. He said: "Today we met with expressions of sorrow from these representatives for Gaza but we must remind them that the pilots bombing Gaza and Palestine were trained in Konya. Israeli jet fuel is supplied from Iskendrun, the food for Israeli soldiers comes from Alanya and their water is sourced from Manavgat. Trade exchanges between Ankara and Tel Aviv continue primarily involving Iron and steel. I cannot say this easily but their weapons are also indirectly supplied through Turkey. Ankara sends drones to Ukraine and Azerbaijan by limits its response to prayers for Gaza." Egypt has been the greatest collaborators in this genocide of Gazans because it shares borders with Gaza. The people of Gaza are starving but it cannot send aid trucks to Gaza because of the fear of Israel as Al Sisi owes his authority to Israel. The moment he antagonizes Netanyahu, he will be toppled and put in jail or will be assassinated. Therefore, Israel with its limited resources would not have been able to inflict so much pain on the people of Gaza but for the conscienceless and spineless imams and kings of the Islamic nations. Israel has been able to carry out the atrocities in and the genocide of the people of Gaza because of the cowardice and moral deprivation of the people of the Arab and African Islamic countries. The imam of Al Azhar damaged the credibility of Al Azhar and himself by showing cowardice and fear of losing his post and being sent behind bars. ---- S. Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com. 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