JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE OF MR. ADNAN OKTAR WITH THE ISRAELI DELEGATION
(May 12nd, 2011, Istanbul)
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:And welcome to our friends from the press. Welcome to our Israeli guests. If Mr. Ayoob Kara wishes he can give a short address first, or I can begin if he prefers. Which does he prefer? Right, thank you.
We know that friendship between Turkey and Israel goes back a very long way. Everyone knows that Turkey's presence in the region is based on love, compassion and opposition to war. We want friendship in the region, and peace, but not war. We do not want bloodshed between Iran and Israel or between Syria and some other country. We do not want one drop of blood to be spilled. It is very easy for us to live in peace and brotherhood in the region; it most beautiful and reasonable. There is a most illogical climate of tension. You all know there is no end to the bloodshed in the Middle East. There has been much suffering. We now want that to come to an end in this century. It is the most normal thing in the world for us to be in alliance with Muslim countries. Turkish-Islamic Union is most normal. When we have Turkish-Islamic Union, Israel will be under guarantee; it will maintain its unitary structure and regime. In other words, nobody will intervene in its domestic or foreign affairs. One feature of Turkish-Islamic Union is that it will be a guarantor. Think of a system like NATO, or an economic system like the EU. Since Islamic countries share a union of faith, they must also be in brotherhood. Unification of the Turkish world is a must. We call that the Turkish-Islamic Union, but this is not a union established on the basis of any racial superiority. It is a union of service, love and brotherhood.
Almighty Allah tells us in the Qur'an, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan: "Among the People of the Book there are some who have faith in Allah and in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down to them, and who are humble before Allah..." (Surah Al 'Imran, 199)
In Surat an-Nahl, verse 125 Allah states, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan: "Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair admonition." Look, Allah is saying "with wisdom and fair admonition.""And only argue withthem in the kindest way. Your Lord knows best who is misguided from His way. And He knows best who are guided."Look, Allah is saying that, "Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way – except in the case of those of them who do wrong." In other words, establish bonds of ideas with them and tell them what you think with your ideas; "... saying, 'We have faith in what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our God and your God are one and we submit to Him." (Surat al-Ankabut, 46)So, we believe in the same Allah, the same religion. Allah tells us to say that. We can see this in several verses of the Qur'an.
In verse 64 of Surah Al 'Imran, Allah states:
"Say, 'People of the Book! Come to a proposition which is the same for us and you – that we should worship none but Allah and not associate any partners with Him and not take one another as lords besides Allah.' If they turn away, say, 'Bear witness that we are Muslims.'"
That is how a Muslim's language and behavior should be. Our Jewish guests came here before, you know. Mr. Ayoob Kara too. And our brother is a Catholic. There are other immaculate people on my left there, and these excellent people are Jews. We had brought these brothers of ours all the way from Spain to Istanbul before. They have always been watched over and protected in Ottoman times and in the time of our Prophet (saas).
Religious brotherhood is one thing, worldly brotherhood is another. Of course we are brothers on earth. Brothers in religion; Jews are one another's brothers, for instance. Christians are brothers in religion among themselves. Muslims are also brothers in religion among themselves, but we are brothers in this world, and we must protect, watch over and love one another.
In a treaty our Prophet Muhammad (saas) had addressed to the Christian community called Ibn Harris, "the religion, churches, lives; honor and property of all Christians living in East and West are under the protection of Allah, the Prophet (saas) and all believers." What does that mean? Muslims have a duty to protect and watch over all the People of the Book. It is a duty our Prophet (saas) assumed. "Nobody living as a Christian will be forced to convert to Islam." There is no compulsion and no violence in religion, in Islam. "If any Christian, any member of the People of the Book, is murdered or suffers an injustice, then Muslims have to help him." So it is written. Ibn Sham Abu Muhammad Abdul Malik sets this out in the 1396 Beirut edition of his Sirat al-Nabawiyya.
Yes, some people may from time to time want there to be tensions in the region. There may be a kind of language suggestive of war between Israel and Iran, or desiring that. Or the impression may be given that it is considering war with Syria. We want none of these things. We can all live together happily in the Middle East in peace and brotherhood. An incredibly powerful union can emerge. The climate is right for that, the conditions are suitable, there is no obstacle. We are thinking of holding a major meeting in Istanbul this year to that end. A very large meeting. And in 2012, insha'Allah (with the will of God), we are thinking of a large meeting in Jerusalem. We are thinking of holding a meeting in order for a large community consisting of Jews and Christians and Muslims to unite, for this disorder and strife to come to an end and to take joint decisions. I think we will be successful in that, insha'Allah. I would now like to let our guests speak. Then I can speak again, insha'Allah. But I am not sure to whom I should give the floor first. Because they are all very worthy people. But let us begin with Mr. Ayoob Kara. Please...
MR. AYOOB KARA:Thank you very much my brother. We are not like brothers; we are like a family with you, all of us. We respect you very much, Sheikh Adnan Oktar. I think for all the people we must give you respect, [since] all the time you are trying to do steps to make this area very quiet; more quietly. And my God keep you forever.
And as you know I am non-Jew but I am the deputy minister in Israel and I have a very important political duty in the party of Likud, that is leading in Israel now. And what I want to say is that my family comes from Turkey. 400 years ago the regime in Turkey sent my grandfather to lead the area around Haifa. And before 400 years ago. Turkey and Israel, two states were going along for long years, and of course their relationship was very excellent and I think Israel and Turkey need each other. It is very important to continue this relationship. And what happened last year; that was accident, nobody needed it. Now it is important to come back to the same relationship and to continue to be brothers, as publics. More and more to come with peace and to influence the peace in all the Middle East. From [the point of] my state, from [the point of] my government it is important for them to continue this relationship. I think everything about this relationship was good for long years and I am coming here from my state to say that Turkey and Israel must go together forever. I think, if anything Turkey wants to do to help other publics, other states around Israel, we support it. We could give the Red Crescent to bring everything that Turkey need to send to Gaza, to other places, if it is from the side of the human rights. We could give them everything. But this is the way we need it. We are looking at any action from the side of the human and we are supporting everything from the side of human rights. This is message from Israel. We need all of our area to be in peace with us. We don't want war; we don't need war around Israel. We need people like Sheikh Adnan Oktar who want us to live like brothers forever.
I am not a Jewish but I am thinking that I am feeling more Israeli than all the Jews here because this is the one area that I believe in democracy and liberalism. We are here [as] Jews and non-Jews. All of us feel the same thing in Israel. I was an officer in the army of Israel because I had to keep my state and my state was democratic. That does not mean that I like war because two of my brothers were killed in the wars with Israel. And in this meeting I want to ask Mr. Oktar and Mr. Erdoğan and everyone in Turkey to come and visit Israel and influence to make around Israel peace. Israel needs peace; Israel does not like war. It is important for us also to help us in the case, Mr. Sheikh Adnan Oktar, with Gilad Shalit. You began helping us one year ago with this case; we want you to make more influence in this case to bring Gilad Shalit back to Israel because we need it. This will make a good environment with other states around Israel. I also want to thank all the people from Turkey who came by plane to help us during the big fire in the Carmel, near Haifa. I want to thank them in this meeting. Thank you very much.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: I thank you too. Please... Yes. Mr. Abrahamson may speak too.
RABBI BEN ABRAHAMSON:It is very important that we see all the people here, who have come from Israel, who care so much for the Turkish people, who so much want to see peace, who want to see a future for our people and your people together, and there is such a deep relationship. I as a historian, have studied the many many centuries of history where the Jewish people and the Turkish people have worked together, have cooperated together to build a good life and I believe and I pray that we see the beginnings of a very good future that is possibly before us now. I can only say from the people that I know here, their hearts are tremendously inclined towards finding a way that we can work together and overcome our problems and see a future of peace for our children and for our children's children. It is an honor for me to know everyone at this table.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:Yes, Mr. Hollander will introduce our guests to the press members. Please...
RABBI YESHAYAHU HOLLANDER: I will now introduce everyone people sitting here. To start over here, Rabbi Avraham Sherman is a very important Rabbi, he is a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Israel, in Jerusalem, of course. Supreme Rabbinical Court sits in Jerusalem. And he has made many court decisions which are precedents and which are taken very seriously by the public in Israel. He has a long history. He was at one time a Rabbi in the army in charge of the area of Jerusalem and later joined the Civilian Rabbinical court and now he is a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court as well.
Rav Avraham Yosef, first of all he is a son of a very illustrious family. His father is Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef whose very name goes from one end of the world to the other end of the world, probably today the most important Rabbi alive. He is a Rabbi of an important city in Israel, Holon. And he has written many important papers and he is known in his own right, and not only as the son of his father of course.
Next sitting to Rabbi Yosef is Rav Tzion Cohen... and he has recently changed his venue to Ohr Yehudah which is closer to the center of Israel. All those who are sitting here very very good people. And he is also Chief Rabbi of Sha'ar HaNegev.
Rabbi Abrahamson is an expert on Islam besides being a Rabbi, besides being a Hassid, besides being a computer expert, besides all of that, and besides his immense work that he has done in this context, I just want to tell you people that he is also an Honorary, he has been given position as an Honorary Member of ISAM, and he has been invited to come to the ISAM whenever he comes he will be given full facilities. People there recognize the importance of his contribution to the understanding of Islam by Muslims.
Mr. Zvi Jacobson is the secretary of the Shas fraction in the Knesset. He has a very important position you may know if you read about the Israeli politics. Shas has made a revolution under the heading of the father of Rabbi Avraham Yosef, under the heading of Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef. The change that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, using Shas as his political instruments, made in Israeli society has not been equaled, as far as I know, anywhere in the world, a great improvement of Jewish society in their learning and in their religion has not been equaled in anywhere in the world. And so we have here a very important group. I will rest with one word about myself. I am a member of Nascent Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and it is great honor for me to be here and to work together with Mr. Oktar on his ideas which are being and will be explained today. It is a great pleasure also to tell you about our friendship with Mr. Kara which goes back a few years and his contribution to the efforts for peace in the Middle East are unequaled to anyone as far as I know by anyone. Thank you.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:Yes, the gentleman can speak now.
MR. GRIES MANSOER:First of all I want to introduce myself. My name is Giries Mansoer. I am deacon in the Catholic church in Israel. I am the General Manager for all the schools of the Church in Israel. Today I am here to put my voice with our brother Adnan Oktar, to call [for] peace to come in our area. As a Christian man, the foundations for our religions are two things: Love and Peace. And I must tell you that as an Israeli citizen I feel freedom to pray according to the Christian religion. We can build a church. We can pray anytime we want. We can visit any church we want, and as a principle in Rama school, we love together Christians, Muslims and Druze. And my dream to bring to my school also Jewish children. And I tell you that the day will come. We are all brothers, and I want to tell you about that we want international protection for the Christians in Egypt, especially what's happening in the last few days there. And I want all the countries in the Middle East to learn how to protect the Christians like Israeli state [does]. We are not against the Arab countries or Arabians, but I am a citizen in Israel, I have an Israeli passport and I am glad to be a good citizen in this state, but I ask all the leaders in the Middle East to sit around a table and to solve all the problems. One day a student in our school asked me, "who is my brother?" And I told him "your brother is every human being." And I believe that if we start teaching that to the children in the schools about peace, about love, about forgiveness. We must have as our goal for all of us to be equal because all of us are the sons [servants] of God. And our Bible said how many of those people are called the peace maker? Everybody must teach in his home to the children to love, and forgiveness and to give peace for this world. I thank Mr. Oktar for this meeting and I'm ready to be the volunteer of the peace process in this land, in the Middle East between the Christians, Muslims, Jews and Druze. Thank you for this meeting again.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:I thank you too. Mr. Salman, please ...
SHEIKH YUSUF HIRBAWI:My name is Yusuf Hirbawi. I am the secretary of Druze Union Imams in Israel. First of all I would like to thank you Mr. Adnan Oktar. And especially thanks for your all good people who helped us yesterday. I am a Druze religious man. I enjoy my life in Israel as a democratic country. I do believe that Turkey, especially you Mr. Adnan can do many things to make peace in our country, in the Middle East and to make our area more quiet. I agree with Mr. Ayoob Kara about the soldier Gilad Shalit and lastly I have prepared good hope [wishes] from my Druze community and Israel [to you], thank you.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, please.
MR. FREDI MALIK:Good afternoon to everybody. Mr. Adnan, I want to thank first of all to Ayoub to bring me here. Yesterday I have spoken with your friend, I am very impressed for you and this is for me… I thank to God that I know some person like you. My name is Fredi Malik, I am the Vice Mayor in the City Nesher near Haifa and also until one year ago I was responsible for the Youth Exchange [program] of all the children Israel for ten years. And for me today I study a lot of history of about Turkey and the relation in between Turkey and Israel. I want to pray only one thing: Turkey will be to have the role, between, as before when she was [the Ottoman] Empire to bring peace for Israel. You know the Jews pray every day three times and they say "oseh shalom bimromav" (He makes peace in the heavens) every day three times. We want every Jew who prays every day, three times "oseh shalom bimromav" (He makes peace in the heavens) to bring the peace. We always say only peace. And I think from this city, from Istanbul will be the peace of Israel and Turkey and all the world together. Thank you very much.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: Yes. Rav Sherman. Pleas go ahead.
RABBI AVRAHAM SHERMAN:I pray for Adnan Oktar, that God would give him life and strength to continue his great work for peace, against violence, against Darwinism, against materialism and against atheism. My friends, we are all coming from Israel to join this conference because we share the idea that Mr. Adnan Oktar wants to spread all over the world, to show all the people of the world that the power for living together – all the peoples, all the religions – we can take it from belief; from the belief in the Creator of the world, and the belief concerning our father Abraham.
This is what connects us with our brothers, our family, to all Islam, Muslims -- Ishmael is the son of our father Abraham. This is the main point that makes us so glad to be together in this conference and especially in Turkey: because as we know historically, it is written in the Holy Books that Abraham began his telling all the world that there is a Creator to this world, and he came to spread this belief, all this took place firstly in Harran, a place in the district of Turkey. This is the place where Abraham began his call to all the world to know Him (God), and not only to know Him but also to go in His way.
The name of Him (God) is Shalom (Peace). In the Jewish belief, one of the names of God is Shalom because He is making Shalom all over the parts of the world. Therefore Abraham not only said that we must know Him – we have to know Him to believe in Him – Abraham also said that we have to follow His ways. The Way of God is peace. The way of God is truth. The way is to go according to the Law and to the good ways that mankind has to do.
And to take from the belief as I read in the big books of Mr. Adnan Oktar. He is writing in his books that from belief is where we can take the power and the desire to do Shalom (peace) and to fight against riots, cruelty, wars.
You know that from the Law of the Torah, you cannot begin a war without first appealing to the other side. Even if he is an enemy to you, you have to [first] call him for Shalom (peace)... Not going and solving problems by war, or by bloodshed, but rather talking and speaking together. Through understanding each other and finding a way that we can all can live together with peace, with happiness. This is the point that we feel that now we are standing here in Turkey. Together with Mr. Adnan Oktar, together with Ayoob Kara, and our Christian and Druze friends and we are together from here giving the call to all to know... By taking from the morality of the Holy Books and from religion [we are] fighting against the materialism... As Mr. Adnan Oktar writes in his books that we have to fight this idea of building our lives on materialism.
Therefore in this congress, Mr. Adnan Oktar advises us that we will make a big congress from all the religions of the world. [We must state] that we are taking all our power for making Shalom (peace) from the light of the belief, the holy morality that is written in the whole Holy Books and the holy ways that we have to go. Therefore according to the plan that Mr. Adnan suggests, we hope to first assemble a great congress in Turkey of all religious leaders in the world. From Turkey, just like Abraham also came when he began his way of lighting the light of belief and morality and good. From Turkey on the way to Eretz HaKodesh (Holy Land). The second conference that we will do it will be in Jerusalem, because this is the way, from here we begin. But we continue farther.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: Masha'Allah. Devout people in the region love one another. I mean Christians, Jews and Muslims, they all believe in the one Allah and love one another. They love one another as brothers in this world and, the people belonging to the same religion love each other as brothers in religion. Yes, let's take the microphones. Insha'Allah, the whole Turkish world will unite very soon. The Islamic world will unite, and we will establish a great Turkish-Islamic Union. We will place all these excellent people under protection, insha'Allah, including Armenia and Israel, insha'Allah. We will live in peace and brotherhood. We will bring down those stone walls in Israel.
Insha'Allah, the prisons will be emptied. Nobody will be left in prisons in Israel or Palestine. Our lovely sisters there will be free. We will have Gilad Shalit released, too, insha'Allah. We will start an age of great peace and brotherhood, by Allah's leave. Mutual pains and sufferings will come to an end. There will be no interference to the regimes of any state under Turkish-Islamic Union, no interference to their unitary structure. There will be no interference in their foreign affairs. The key will be to establish peace and brotherhood, and protecting people and countries from external attacks. To put an end to terrorism and anarchy. And to establish mutual economic assistance and introduce highest level of moral virtue. All faiths will be respected, insha'Allah. Christians will be free in their own faith and Jews in theirs. And Muslims in their own religious beliefs. Until the coming of 'Isa the Messiah. According to our belief, when 'Isa the Messiah (pbuh) comes, insha'Allah, we believe that the whole world will become Muslim. That is our belief. The Muslim belief. But the important thing is that there will be no interference in anyone's beliefs. A Jew's worship in the synagogue will be respected and safeguarded. His life and honor and property and those of the People of the Book will all be under Muslim protection. Muslims have a duty to protect them. It is a sin to hurt or inflict pain on anyone, no matter who they are or what their faith is. Our religion prohibits that. According to our belief, the Islamic belief, Mahdi (pbuh) has come. We believe that the person referred to as the King Messiah in the Torah and the Mahdi is actually the same person. We believe he is the person referred to as the Mashiach, Shiloh. We want Jews to be able to go beyond the borders of Israel and live safely anywhere they want. Let them live freely in Lebanon or Syria. Let them also come to Turkey. We want them to be as free as possible. Let them build factories everywhere and set up plants and be happy and worship as they wish. I mean, we don't want such things as checkpoints and security measures. We want them to live happily and in peace as much as possible. Of course, we believe that the Mahdi (pbuh) will address Muslims with the moral values of the Qur'an, and Christians with the original Gospel, and Jews with the original Torah. That is what the hadiths of our Prophet (saas) say. That is our ideal, insha'Allah. But people will see in the next 10 or 15 years that it is the truth. We are in a metaphysical age and climate. This meeting is an extraordinary thing too, a supernormal phenomenon. It is a wonderful thing. The establishment of bonds of brotherhood, our opposition to war and our desire for peace are all commandments of the Qur'an, and also commandments in the Gospel and the Torah. Insha'Allah, we will not permit war or bloodshed anywhere in the region. We will totally eliminate anarchy and terrorism and live brotherly and in a united way, insha'Allah. People will see the beauty of the Islamic moral values in the Turkish-Islamic Union. There will be an extraordinary economic development, and no money will be spent on weapons any more. We will spend no more for tanks and jet fighters. That money and those means will be used for industry, for manufacturing home appliances, the equipment used in the daily lives of people insha'Allah, all around the world. We will eliminate weapons all around the world and get rid of the nuclear weapons and cannons too, insha'Allah. Love and peace alone will conquer. Insha'Allah, you will see this. This is actually very reasonable, but it looks quite baffling to people. The truth is, war is abnormal. Bloodshed and anarchy, kidnapping and hurting people are actually abnormal. Living together brotherly is perfectly normal, a perfectly legitimate right of ours. This is what Allah wants from us. Insha'Allah, we will see it. We will take all the measures necessary to put an end to the pain and suffering, insha'Allah. We just need to be committed to reinforcing this bond of brotherhood, and carry on with our efforts.
Now, let's hear our guests. Rav Jacobson, secretary of the Shas Party. Please, go ahead.
RABBI TZVI JACOBSON:I will only say one thing. We have come here firstly based on the understanding of the good and positive works that are being done by our honored host. Ok, I will say it again. I have come here for two main reasons: Firstly, to show profound appreciation to the important work of our host.
I have visited most of the Arab countries, and I have seen many people who have spoken about peace. In this case, I believe that he [Mr. Oktar] is truly working for peace in the world. I have seen many people who are doing similar kinds of efforts, [but in this case it is different] I believe him.
RABBI YESHAYAHU HOLLANDER:Rabbi Jacobson says that many people in many countries speak for peace, not all but they say is entirely what they really want. But he knows that Mr. Oktar is speaking the truth as he feels and as he understands.
And the second reason, is that I request that people will look at the [faces of] people [who have spoken this night], and ask themselves if they continue to believe all the bad things that are written about Israel and the Jewish people.
If one reporter, one newspaper, will write one line that will influence one person in Turkey to get to know in a little way the real nature of Israel and the Jewish people, it would have been reason enough to come. Thank you.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:Yes. Rav Joseph, please you continue, we are listening to you. Rav Joseph.
RABBI ABRAHAM JOSEPH:I open with a blessing for our hosts Mr. Adnan Oktar, together with his team, that received us with such graciousness. I hope that we will be able to host them in Jerusalem, Israel. King Solomon said a verse that is very, very instructive. "Like water shows the face to the face, so is heart shows man to the man". (Proverbs 27:19) If I wish to love someone, if I wish for someone to love me, the iniative must come from me. Just like if someone comes to look into a spring, and sees his reflection smiling, then it shows that he is smiling. If he sees his reflection angry, it shows that he is angry. As it is between man and man. If it appears to me that my friend is angry, then it must be that I contain some anger at him. If I love him, then surely he will love me. The initiative must come from me. Also, just as I must bend down (prostrate) to see my image in the water – it is not possible to remain standing and see my reflection – also between the heart of man and man, one must bend down (in humility) and show a happy face and to radiate love. In this way, journalists and educators, are required to install in the heart of humanity, love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship.
The Torah of Israel works to instill love and brotherhood, and to distance one from hatred. God selected the Jewish people from among the nations, not just to punish them whenever they sinned before Him, but also to declare the belief in One God, to declare good character, proper behavior, endearing respect, as we have learned as we have been taught "you should love your neighbor as yourself". (Leviticus 19:18)
In every religion there are commandments. The purpose of the commandments are not to degrade the other, rather to connect with God. God has no corporal nature and no body. It is impossible to measure His holiness. In order to connect with something infinite, it is necessary to have good deeds. In every religion, there is the connection it provides with God, that unites all the religions, unites all the worlds, and only through submission to Him in complete servitude, in cooperation between all the nations. Just as an army is made up of many division, the same is true with the religions, each has its difference approaches how to connect with and do good before God... Thank you.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: Rabbi Cohen, please go ahead.
RABBI ZION COHEN:My name is Tzion Cohen. I was born in Morocco. I was the Rabbi of Sederot, until recently, actually I am still connected to the [Sederot] municipality as part of my responsibilities as Rabbi of Sha'ar HaNegev, which is the neighboring on Gaza. More recently I have been chosen to be Rabbi of Ohr Yehuda.
We as Jews... The nation of Israel is made up of twelve tribes. The nation of Israel is called after the name of the tribe of Judah. The essence of the nation of Israel is Yehudah, which is derived from the word Hoda'ah (which means to give thanks). We wish to express our thanks to Mr. Adnan for the wonderful hosting together with all the team of people which accompanied us and continue to assist us in such a wonderful way.
The Turkish people, in general, has had a beautiful history, a tradition spanning many years of taking care of guests, of a very special nature. From inviting those who had been expelled by Spain to the Holocaust during WWII, even continuing until today.
God created wonderful world, with all its families, from one person, Adam. Why did he create just one person? He could have created millions of people from the beginning. In this there is a central and important message, that each of us have the same genes, so that no one can claim superiority over another.
The key to peace, for positive interpersonal communication... to increase love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship requires a positive communication: both in written communication (newspapers, etc) and electronic communication, thus the broadcast station that Mr. Adnan has set up, that speaks about peace and love among people and religious communities, that works against violence of any form, is very important indeed.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR: I also thank you.
RABBI ZION COHEN:"[One of] the names of God is Shalom (peace)". There is no glorification of God like... Someone who loves God has to increase love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship in the world, this is especially true with spiritual leaders. They have to be able to give guidance and warning to those who are still learning. They have to be careful. They must be careful in their talk, in their deeds, to be a personal example to others. To be someone that others can emulate. They have a obligation to the public and to the nation. They must be careful do deeds which are practically applicable, that will increase love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship. I take this opportunity to Mr. Oktar to assist in the request of Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara, to do everything in his power towards the release of Gilad Shalit. I again acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Adnan and his entire wonderful team that pleasantly surprised us.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:I also thank you. You are all welcome. Mr. Salman, you may go on, please. Then we can have the questions from our brothers from the media. Yes, please.
MR. SALMAN HENO:Shalom LeKulam (Peace to everyone) Salamun alaikum. Honorable Mr. Oktar, Deputy Minister, members of the delegation. I am Salman Heno. Representative of the Druze in the Galilee in Israel. We participated in this delegation to strengthen the ties between Turkey and Israel. Together with the Deputy Minister to try and bring things back the way they were, that Turkey should return to its good position in the Middle East, in the whole process, in order to live in peace in the region and in the world. And the good nature of Sheikh Adnan that strengthened our feeling to come here, to see him up close, and it was something special that when we arrived here everything we had heard was indeed true, and even more so. What the Sheikh [Adnan] does and the things he gives over to the nation, this is indeed marvelous, someone who deals in spirituality. This is more important than everyone else. I thank Mr. Adnan and his entire team, and wish success to everyone. I add my request to that of the Deputy Minister that Mr. Adnan should work in the region and also work to release Gilad Shalit.
RABBI YESHAYAHU HOLLANDER:I would like to add a few words of my own. We are here at a very interesting junction of history. We have worked with Mr. Oktar, now it is the fourth year and things developed much faster than we thought. We all know of the new developments in the Arab world in Tunisia, in Egypt, in other places where people are getting freedom which they have not had yet. In the Talmud, Samuel said, one of the sages said that in the time of Messiah, there will be no more subjugation of the nations. This is also brought by Maimonides word for word that there will not be subjugation of the nations. As a child, I understood this to mean that the Jews will not be subjugated by the nations in which the Jews lived. There was no state of Israel and Jews were in a diaspora. And in many places they were suffering, and I understood this to refer to the Jews [only]. But it is quite clear now that it is not referred to the Jews alone. It refers to all of humanity. In the time of Messiah, people will not be subjugated not by only by other nations but not even by their own governors. Now we see before us that this is exactly what is happening.
And when Mr. Oktar told some years ago that I will see Messiah and I will serve in the Temple, in Solomon's Temple when it is rebuild. I in my heart said I don't really believe him but it would be very nice if it would happen. Well, it seems now that things are moving a lot faster than I have thought. And Messiah is nigh, is close to us, and freedom will reign from shore to shore in one end of the world to the other. And all people in total freedom will worship the Almighty insha'Allah. Thank you very much.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah. Mr. Salman Heno is, as you know, chairman of the Druze mayors in Israel. Now, we may have the questions of our valuable media members. Please.
JOURNALIST:Please ask Mr. Zion Cohen what he thinks of the Mavi Marmara Flotilla.
RABBI ZION COHEN:I would like to give over a very important principle in Judaism. In the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments there are five commandments that are between man and God, and parallel to that there are five commandments that are between man and man. It is important to note that the first commandment is "I am the LORD your God" and parallel to that is "Thou shalt not kill". That is to say that someone who breaks the first commandment, who does not believe in God, that he can fall to the level where he can commit murder. We have another example, from our forefather Jacob, when he went out to meet [his estranged brother] Esav, there is an expression "and Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (Genesis 32:7) There is a redundancy here, [why say "greatly afraid" and "distressed"?] Our sages tell us that he was afraid of two things, he was afraid that he might have to kill, and he was also afraid that he might be killed. This teaches that someone who is a servant of God, must be very careful not come in any way to shed blood. This is a general principle in Judaism. It was terrible thing that this happened, and it is very important to take steps that this never happen again. We want to make it entirely clear that we are very sorry at the loss of life, whenever it happens, and we pray that the future brings and opportunity for love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship.
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:We don't want civil wars in the region. We are uncomfortable to see fight in Syria, the people of Syria fighting each other. We are uncomfortable to see civil wars in Libya. We are uncomfortable to see it in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. We don't want Israel to live in unrest. We don't want to see wars in the region. We want all of these to be gone. This is very simple and quite easy. War and conflicts are difficult. For example the incident of Marmara flotilla is very sorrowful. May Allah grant His blessings on our martyrs. This was undesirable. If Turkish-Islamic Union had been established, that incident on Marmara Flotilla wouldn't have happened. This wouldn't have happened. There wouldn't have been riots in Syria. There wouldn't have been such events in Libya. Thousands of Muslims would not be massacred, martyred in Algeria. There wouldn't be bloodshed in Egypt. None of this would have happened. The region would live peacefully and safely. We want the fight in the world to come to an end and the peace to prevail. To do that, we believe that a great Turkish-Islamic Union that will include Israel and Armenia too, is needed. We want the establishment of a great Turkish Islamic Union that will even include Russia. Israel is ready for that as far as I can see. Armenia is ready for that. It is very crucial that such a beauty comes true, and this is the biggest need of the region. We see that there is no other solution to stop the bloodshed. To sum it up, this is the solution.
We are living in the time of Mahdi system at the moment. We believe that Mahdi (pbuh) has come. We believe that Mahdi system's influence is all around the world now. Iran is aware of it, Syria is aware of it. Many countries are aware of it. The whole Islamic world is aware of it. All Islamic scholars say the same thing. All Ahl al-Sunnah scholars, all Shia scholars, all Jaffari scholars say that Mahdi (pbuh) has come. According to my own belief, I believe that 'Isa the Messiah (pbuh) has come too. And I believe that now is the time for unity and brotherhood. Now people will be able to greet each other easily, look at each other with smiling faces, people will not be afraid of each other. The time for love has started. The time for friendship has started. This is a sign of that, the unity here is about that too. No one can gain anything with hostility, fights, hatred. We don't want hatred for Christians, Jews, Shias, Alawis, Jaffaris. We don't want separation between Alawii-Sunnis. We want everyone's ideas, opinions to be respected and we want everyone to live with love altogether. Because it is the most urgent thing, and what you see here is a part of this urgent matter. This is the purpose of the meeting. And maybe part of its purpose was fulfilled. But it will continue. There will be more meetings, conferences. This will continue until the Turkish-Islamic Union is established.
I hope I could explain it clearly. But if there are any questions, I can get them.
JOURNALIST:I have a question. My question is for Mr. Ayoob Kara. What do you expect if another flotilla arrives in Gaza? What will be the consequences in such a situation?
MR. AYOOB KARA:I am sorry that I am speaking about this situation again. We say that from the beginning that we think, that we are supporting every Turkish public to send any thing from the side of human rights, food, anything to Gaza. We are ready, the Red Crescent of Turkey lead this material, this is important for us, because we need to work with the government of Turkey. From the side of the human rights, is no problem, we are supporting, the government is supporting, is nothing wrong with that...
MR. ADNAN OKTAR:Let me explain one thing. Our guests address me as Sheikh out of their respect, love. You know that I am not a Sheikh. I am student, a learner. Just any other person. That's just the expression of love and respect in Middle East, that's what it is. No one should misunderstand.
Any of our brothers, sisters wishing to ask more questions? I guess, that's it. Then let me wrap it up with a couple of words.
Love is good, peace is good, it's good that people are friends. Let us love each other. Let us respect everyone's faith. Let us build a beautiful world. Let us establish the Turkish-Islamic Union insa'Allah. We are making firm steps towards this goal. Insa'Allah we will see beautiful days. I am greeting all of you with love and respect. Thank you for coming.
