Scholars warn that verbal attacks that demonize Israel and call for its destruction are likely to be explicit expressions of implicit antisemitism, since Israel is a state for the Jewish people.

A vivid example in this regard is the way Imam Abolfazl Bahram Nahidian of the Manassas Mosque in Virginia criticized Israel while speaking to the crowd attending the 2010 Al-Quds Day Rally in Washington, DC. He said: "Israel was established with the name of war and destruction...Israel is a state of war and destruction."

It is evident, however, that Imam Nahidian was using Israel as a way to refer to Jews in general: "All the plots and the schemes that they make are to destroy humanity. They say: 'The land, the leadership, and the wealth of the world belong to us, as the chosen people of God.' Yes, they [the Jews] are the chosen people of God – to be the most devilish ones on the Earth. They are doing that so they will stay above the rest of humanity. The variety of the plots that they make – you know it. I don't have to tell you, but I will remind you. They created September 11. They blew up the buildings."