Syrian sermon: destroy the Zionist Jews and their supporters
[FBIS (US Government service) Translated Excerpt]
[With thanks to www.mideastweb.org/mewnews1.htm ]

Damascus Syrian Arab Republic Radio in Arabic, official station of the
Syrian Government, at 0954 GMT on 16 April 2004 carries a 29-minute live
sermon from Al-Rawdah Mosque in Damascus.

Shaykh Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barakat delivers the sermon. After
praising God and His messenger, he says that God has provided his servants
with Islam to attain happiness in this life and in the life hereafter,
citing relevant Koranic verses. God, he says, has ordered the faithful to
cooperate, to close ranks, and to treat one another well, recalling how
Prophet Muhammad united Muslims, purged their hearts of enmity and hatred,
and established a power that scored victory after victory. Syria, he says,
liberated itself from the French through solidarity and cooperation,
stressing that the Arab nation "has made its major achievements through
unity and solidarity."

The imam urges the Arab nation to close ranks in the face of "the
arrogant Zionist enemy," to put minor differences aside, "to deter the
Zionist enemy," and to help the fraternal Iraqi people "restore their
security, stability, and prosperity." He says President Bashar al-Asad's
tour of a number of Arab countries "has cleared the Arab atmosphere and
reactivated Arab and Islamic solidarity in order to regain the land and
rights from the Zionist enemy and to achieve a just and comprehensive peace
based on the resolutions of international legitimacy."

In conclusion, the imam asks God to unite Arabs and Muslims, to help
them defeat their enemy, "to destroy the Zionist Jews and their supporters,"
and to give success to the Syrian president.