Influential Saudi Cleric: Holocaust A "Myth Of Tremendous Proportions"

A disturbing new video has surfaced featuring an interview with a prominent Saudi Arabian Islamic Cleric by the name of Salman Al-Ouda. In his chilling words, Al-Ouda casually dismisses the Holocaust, saying it has become “a myth of tremendous proportions.”

Without hesitation, Al-Ouda went on to claim that “the role of the Jews is to wreak destruction, to wage war, and to practice deception and extortion.” And that the Jewish people “believe that they have the right to kill anyone who does not adhere to their religion.”

Named in the top 500 most influential Muslims in the world, Salman Al-Ouda is currently a member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars and on its Board of Trustees. He is also director of the Arabic edition of the website Islam Today, appears on a number of TV shows, and authors newspaper articles.

With over a million Twitter followers, Al-Ouda is considered to be one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent religious spokespersons. A well-known Islamist scholar, Al-Ouda is respected and revered by millions around the world. 

But how can a man with a career based on such false and hateful semantics be this respected? 

As the interview continued, according to a full transcript of the interview, Al-Ouda added that the Jewish people “would lure a child in order to sacrifice him in the religious rite that they perform during that holiday [Passover].”

This type of deceptive, anti-Semitic propaganda is reminiscent of that which preceded the Holocaust and resulted in the loss of millions of Jews. In Germany, Hitler published children’s books to perpetuate the hatred through generations and to scare children. Similarly, Salman Al-Ouda attempts to scare children into hating the Jewish community by proclaiming lies about the Jewish Passover.

Salman Al-Ouda is but one of many "influentials" given a large platform to spread blatant lies to millions of people. Saudi Arabia continues to show that it not only accepts this anti-Semitic speech and lies, but encourages it by elevating people like Salman Al-Ouda to the highest levels of intellectual and public society. Our President should send a message to the world by condemning this behavior instead of bowing to it.

People who believe in basic human rights know that these false and hateful semantics from so-called leaders like Salman Al-Ouda must be stopped. The way we can do that is not by suppressing speech, but by uniting together to expose and discredit those like Al-Ouda who spread lies. Our future generations deserve to know the truth so they are not vulnerable to propaganda that attempts to insight hate and persecute the faithful.