Zionist Regime’s Use of Quran Verses Sparks Anger
The tweet shared on Tuesday morning included verses from the Surah (chapter) al-Fil 'the elephant', alongside a photo of a plume of smoke rising out of a building after an Israeli air strike.
In Islamic tradition, Surah al-Fil (the elephant) describes a pre-Islamic episode in Arabian history where an army made up of war elephants marches on the holy city of Mecca, only to be defeated by flocks of birds, which drop stones on the advancing army.
In a follow-up post in the same Twitter thread, the account says: "This is a reminder of God’s ability to support those who are righteous over falsehood, especially since Hamas is the arm of Iran that seeks to ignite the region. The IDF targets Hamas “…” targets in Gaza."
A reasonable inference would therefore be that the Israeli military is comparing itself to the birds, which rescued Mecca in the Quranic account, from the war elephants, which in this case refers to Hamas.
Israel's aggression on Gaza, which started on May 10, has at the time of publication killed at least 213 Palestinians in the besieged territory, of whom 61 are children and 36 are women.
Given that context, the Arabic language tweet drew angry reactions from users on Twitter, who saw it as a taunt and not in keeping with the facts on the ground: namely that, in their eyes, the Israeli military is considered the aggressor.
One user responding to the tweet mockingly asked: "And you are the people of righteousness?"
While another responded: "Nothing could possibly be more vile, more inhumane, than Israel’s Arabic Twitter page using a Quran verse to mock the bombings they’re conducting on Gaza. Our Holy Book’s verses are not something you use for your sick and twisted aesthetics."
The US publication Mondoweiss simply said: "This is sick", the Middle East Eye reported.
Many Twitter users saw the post as a deliberate taunt given Gaza's overwhelmingly Muslim population, especially given ties between Israel and far-right anti-Muslim groups in the US.
