sheikh ekrima sa'id sabri () was the grand mufti of jerusalem and palestine from october 1994 to july 2006. he was appointed by yasser arafat. he has a doctorate from al azhar university in egypt on the âislamic endowment between theory and practiceâ. in july 2006, mahmoud abbas reportedly removed sabri as mufti for his growing popularity and open expression of highly contentious political views. ==controversy== in a 1999 interview regarding the political situation on the temple mount, sabri stated, "if the jews want peace, they will stay away from al aksa. this is a decree from god. the haram al-sharif belongs to the muslim. but we know the jew is planning on destroying the haram. the jew will get the christian to do his work for him. this is the way of the jews. this is the way satan manifests himself. the majority of the jews want to destroy the mosque. they are preparing this as we speak." in a 2000 interview with the italian newspaper la repubblica, sabri responded to a question about the holocaust by stating, "six million jews dead? no way, they were much fewer. letâs stop with this fairytale exploited by israel to capture international solidarity. it is not my fault if hitler hated jews, indeed they were hated a little everywhere. instead, it is necessary to denounce the unjust occupation endured by my people. tomorrow i will ask john paul ii... to support our cause." on february 20, 2005, sabri appeared on al-majd saudi arabian satellite tv to comment on the assassination of rafik hariri, the former lebanese prime minister. sabri stated, "anyone who studies the protocols of the elders of zion and specifically the talmud will discover that one of the goals of these protocols is to cause confusion in the world and to undermine security throughout the world."{{cite book |title=hypermedia seduction for terrorist recruiting |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2007 |publisher=ios press |location= |isbn= |page=5 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ybqkswzkty4c&pg=pa5&lpg=pa5&dq=%22anyone+who+studies+the+protocols+
20th-century_imams 21st-century_imams Al-Azhar_University_alumni Grand_Muftis_of_Jerusalem Living_people Palestinian_Sunni_Muslims Palestinian_imams Past_Grand_Muftis