Maariv, one of Israel’s most read newspapers in Hebrew, published an article titled "No Jew Will Be Hurt, It Is Against the Qur’an" written by Shalom Yerushalmi in January 22, 2010. The article, published in two full pages, mostly mentioned the press conference organized by Mr. Adnan Oktar and the Israeli delegation in Istanbul. (Please click to watch or read the text of the press conference.) The delegation, which came to Istanbul in the leadership of Ayoob Kara, Deputy Minister of Israel, gave a message of fellowship to the whole world by supporting Mr. Adnan Oktar’s call for love and unity. Shalom Yerushalmi, one of the well-known commentators of Israel, cited his impressions about the meetings he attended and the delegation which he personally accompanied in Istanbul, as follows:
... The head of the delegation was Ayoob Kara, Deputy Minister of Development of the Negev and Galilee. After him in line walked Dimitry Mussa, a Christian priest wearing a black robe; Ameen Kablan, deputy leader of the Druze community, who wore a large turban and a traditional garment; Sheikh Ataf Krinawi from Rahat, with an impressive kaffiyeh and a huge galabia; Japhet Ben Ratzon Tsedaka, one of the heads of the Samaritan community and two Orthodox Rabbis: Yeshayahu Hollander and Ben Abrahamson, both in festive tailcoats. It was hard to overestimate the great excitement that seized the delegation. Soon they would meet with Adnan Oktar, a special devout religious Muslim leader, who attracts hundreds of thousands of supporters, and he is perhaps the only man in Turkey who is willing to stand by Israel these days. Oktar supports us so much that he even invited Noam Shalit, the father of the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, in order to help in liberating "our son, with whom we are suffering", in his own words.
... Ayoob Kara is prepared to explain. During the visit, Kara has turned into Oktar"s number one admirer and declared that he yearns for "the day when he [Mr. Adnan Oktar] will become the leader of the Islamic Ummah." In the middle of the week, the Syrian Mufti Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun made some surprisingly moderate declarations regarding the Jews. "I did my homework and learned that Oktar stands behind the Syrian Mufti"s words", says Kara.
But Syria is only an example. Oktar claims that he is the man who determines the ways in which Iran"s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reacts and behaves... : "Do you remember that Ahmadinejad said that he will wipe Israel off the map? I sent a message to him. I told him that a Muslim cannot say things like that, it is forbidden. It is a sacred place. There are Christians, Muslims and Jews there. There are devout people and children there. This statement is not appropriate. The people who live in Israel are the children of Abraham. It is forbidden that any of the children of Abraham will be hurt. It is written in the Qur"an. From the moment that I delivered the message to him, Ahmadinejad changed his declarations by 180 degrees..."
"No bomb will fall on Israel. It is against the laws of Islam and the Qur"an. Such a thing will never happen. No Jew will be hurt. It is impossible."
Oktar is a fascinating international figure. He is a 54-year-old bachelor, born in Ankara to parents who arrived from Caucasia. He is known throughout the world by his pen name Harun Yahya, a combination that he chose from the names of the Hebrew Aaron the priest and John the Baptist, the Christian apostle...
On Tuesday night, the Israeli delegation sat on Oktar"s set and competed with each other in praising their host who had the pleasure of hosting them in front of six million viewers.
Oktar"s teaching is strict and conservative... but also peace loving. For this reason, it is easy for Orthodox Jews and Christian clerics to join him... In the 300 books that he wrote until now under the pen name Harun Yahya, which were distributed in millions of copies, Oktar attacks Darwinism, atheism and materialism. The combination of these three evil doctrines: evolution, heresy against religion and materialism for its own sake, in his view, caused all the troubles of the modern world, including all wars.
Oktar thinks that Islam will be the factor that will eventually defeat world terror, since the Qur"an forbids any use of force to hurt innocent persons. In his mind, he sees the return of the Turkish Empire under a religious spiritual leadership, with no doubt who will be the supreme leader...
In addition to his widespread Islamic narrative in recent years, Oktar claims that God gave the right to the Jews to live in the Holy Land. He even supports the construction of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount and in the past he hosted leaders of the movements who support this change on the Mount. During the television broadcast on Tuesday, Rabbi Hollander of Bnei Brak was very excited and compared the event in the Istanbul studio to the festive days in the First and Second Temples, when the Jews conducted their prayers and people of all the other nations gathered with devotion around them...
