If you’re planning a sunny vacation in Amman, Jordan, anytime soon, be sure to check out, if not to patronize, the new shawarma spot that everyone is talking about: it’s called “October 7.”
Oct. 7, for those who may have been hibernating for the last few months, was the day that Hamas jihadis stormed into Israel and embarked upon a bloody orgy of mass rape and mass murder, leaving 1,200 Israelis dead. Even among those who have deluded themselves and others into believing that this was a justified act of “resistance” against Israeli “occupation,” it is hard to see why this would be something to be celebrated.
After all, it isn’t hard to find people who believe that the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified and prevented a larger casualty total that would have been the result of a ground invasion of Japan, but it’s much harder to find anyone who jumps for joy over the killing of thousands of Japanese. And there is no restaurant in the U.S. named “Hiroshima” in celebration of the bombing.
Yet in Amman, a video shows the October 7 shawarma place doing a brisk business, with the person taking the video thanking Allah as he approaches the store. Nor is this the first such business in the Islamic world: up until recently, there was a clothing store in Gaza called “Hitler 2.” One customer explained: “The name of the shop is ‘Hitler’ and I like him because he was the most anti-Jewish person. They have done us wrong, they took our rights in this land and they left us with nothing. It is better for us now to go and die, we are living like the dead. I like the clothes and the name, it is fantastic.”
No matter what the Jews may or may not have done, does anything justify rejoicing at their mass murder, or at the killing of any human being? The problem is that in the mindset of the people who name and patronize establishments such as October 7 and Hitler 2, they’re not exactly dealing with human beings. The Qur’an says: “Indeed, the worst of animals in Allah’s sight are the ungrateful who will not believe” (8:55). The unbelievers are “the most vile of created beings” (98:6).
This applies specifically to the Jews, whom Allah transformed into apes and pigs for their disobedience (2:63-66; 5:59-60; 7:166). Antisemitism is deeply embedded within the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. The Qur’an’s treatment of Jews is consistent and unambiguous: those who do not accept that Muhammad is a prophet and become Muslims are untrustworthy schemers who hate the Muslims and try to frustrate their plans whenever and wherever they can. Islam’s most common prayer, the Fatihah (Opening), is also the first chapter of the Qur’an. In it, the believer asks Allah: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom you have favored, not of those who have earned your anger, or of those who have gone astray” (1:6–7). In an Islamic tradition, Muhammad states that “the Jews are those who Allah is angry with” (Jami at-Tirmidhi, 5.44.3954).
Allah’s anger stems from the Jews’ unremitting tendency to do evil. The Qur’an says: “They did not restrain one another from the wickedness they did. Indeed what they used to do was evil” (5:79). The Jews, along with the polytheists, are the worst enemies of the Muslims: “You will find the Jews and the idolaters the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe” (5:82).
Related: Does Islamic Law Sanction Hamas’ Rape of Captives?
Dr. Fadi Yousef Kablawi, imam of the North Miami Islamic Center in Florida, in March 2021, criticized Muslims who engaged in negotiations with non-Muslims, specifically those who participated in peace talks with Israel: “Who do you go to? The brothers of the apes and pigs. Huh? The offspring of pigs and apes – that’s who you seek your honor from?” He was appalled that Muslims would accord Jews such respect: “Criminals – [those] people are criminals. There is no corruption in the world that the [Jews] are not behind. [You should] know it for a fact.”
If Jews are really subhuman criminals who are behind all the corruption in the world, it’s easy to see why killing them would be seen as a cause for celebration. While the left likes to talk about “hate” and claims that any criticism amounts to an unacceptable “dehumanization” of the criticized group, their Islamic allies are going in hard for dehumanization and hate, and glorying in it. No leftist will utter a murmur of protest, of course, because the left’s posturing about “hatred” and “dehumanization” on the right is really just projection, as can be seen in all the leftists gleefully fantasizing about the murder of Donald Trump. If some leftist ever does kill him, don’t be surprised if a restaurant bearing the date of the murder as a name is established in New York or Los Angeles.