Ex-State Dept. Rep. Says Stabbing Jews Is Okay, Compares Them to Animals

A Michigan woman, who has served as a Muslim State Department representative, argues that stabbing Jews is okay.

In the last three months, Israelis have faced dozens of unprovoked stabbing attacks by Palestinians.

In an Arabic-language video on YouTube called "Is Stabbing Jews Haram (Forbidden)" pro-Palestinian activist Lina Allan blasts Muslims who say stabbing Jews is forbidden under Islamic law.

"Some people have commented on the Palestinians' stabbing of Jews, by saying that it is haram, that it is prohibited," said Allan, who represented the State Department's U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in the Jameed Festival in Jordan.

"I support any decision made by the Palestinian people in order to regain its rights and its land," Allan said in reference to the act of stabbing Jews.

Allan describes herself as an "optimistic person," and appears to compare Jews to animals, and she likened those who believe stabbings are prohibited under Islam to defenders of "animal rights -- not human rights, but at best, animal rights."

She calls those who oppose her views hypocrites, such as smokers who say cigarettes are "halal" or permissible under Islamic law.

"Who are you to say what is halal and what is haram," she asked critics of stabbing attacks. "Sadly, there are many people in the Arab world who think that just because their mother and father are Muslim, they themselves automatically became muftis, and are allowed to say what is halal and what is haram - according to their whims and personal desires, of course."

"If they like smoking, they pronounce cigarettes halal," she said. "And if they hate cigarettes, they pronounce them haram."

Meanwhile, Israel says the violence is being fanned by a Palestinian campaign of incitement. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustrations stemming from nearly five decades of Israeli occupation.