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Al-Aqsa preacher blames Israeli gov’t, media and homosexuality for spread of Omicron

The prominent Islamic leader blamed the media and government that “allow and encourage homosexuality” for the spread of COVID-19. 

By World Israel News Staff

Islamic preacher Issam Amira has provided an unusual explanation to the spread of COVID-19 in Israel, Hebrew language Channel 12 reported.

In a sermon given at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week, Amira told his followers that the Indian and Omicron variants that were unknown before have spread in Israel and across the world due to the Israeli government and media that allow and promote homosexuality.

According to Amira, the “heretic” media and government that “allow and encourage homosexuality” are behind the spread of COVID. The Omicron variant “did not spread until the government and media announced it,” he argued.

The Right-wing NGO Im Tirzu called Amira’s statements dangerous, telling Channel 12 that “Sheikh Issam Amira is a dangerous person who should be behind bars. His incitement endangers the LGBTQ community and the Jewish people as a whole.”

Controversial statements from religious leaders blaming the LGBTQ community for the spread of COVID are nothing new.

Last year, an Orthodox church leader in Ukraine blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on same-sex marriage, shortly before contracting the virus himself.

Amira himself was arrested and banned from the al-Aqsa Mosque for six months after praising the murder and beheading of a middle school history teacher in France by a Muslim fanatic.