During his Friday sermon in a Damascus Mosque on 14th March 2003, Sheikh Abd al-Razeq al-Ma’anes said: “This is the nature of Jews, they live on the fringes of nations and peoples in this era in order to destroy the peoples…So, what do we expect from them and what can be expect from the confrontation with them? They are not strong”. In connection with the war in Iraq the Sheikh said: “I believe that one country could prevent the United States from conducting these wars, that is a small, deformed country, the State of Isael””. The Sheikh also defined the Jews as parasites causing harm to society.
