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Leading Saudi cleric condemns Oct. 7 attacks, urges release of hostages

“We want the war in Gaza to end and all the hostages to be freed,” said Mohammed Al-Issa, secretary general of the Muslim World League.

Muhammad al-Issa at Gates of Auschwitz
Muhammad al-Issa, secretary general of the Muslim World League (center), leads a delegation of Muslim leaders to the grounds of Auschwitz and its memorial in January 2020. Credit: American Jewish Committee via Wikimedia Commons.

One of Saudi Arabia’s top religious figures gathered for a gala dinner in Washington, D.C., with as many as 150 Jewish, Christian, Muslim and political leaders to discuss promoting greater peace in the Middle East.

Mohammed Al-Issa, a former justice minister in Saudi Arabia and now secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), said on Tuesday that “Oct. 7 was a crime” and that the terrorist attacks “cannot be accepted by Muslims at all.”

He said that “we cannot justify the holding of hostages and call for the immediate release of all the hostages,” adding “we want the war in Gaza to end and all the hostages to be freed.”

The MWL is the world’s largest non-government Muslim organization.

Attendees at the interfaith gala, held at the National Postal Museum on Capitol Hill, included Rabbi David Saperstein, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and director emeritus of the Religious Actions Center of Reform Judaism; and Jonathan Kessler, a former senior executive at AIPAC who now works as CEO/founder at Heart of a Nation.

“I will stand up anytime, anywhere you need me to call out the antisemitism and all the other horrible instances of hatred espoused toward the people of the Jewish religion,” the New York City mayor said.
“Religious liberty is foundational to our Constitution, and the freedom to practice one’s faith openly and in community is central to the American story,” said Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary.
The two attacks constitute “a severe economic blow to the Iranian regime, amounting to tens of billions of dollars.”

“I request from you to adhere to the Home Front Command’s instructions,” the premier told Israelis.
Ali Ahmad Ali Amrain “worked to supply various weapons for the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military said.
“This is another case that illustrates the Iranian enemy’s method of recruiting Israeli citizens online,” the police said.