At a December 6, 2025 children’s “story night” held at the Islamic Center of Pflugerville, imam Mufti Umer Farooq Saleem told young attendees that Israel is an “illegal” state and linked both Jews and Israel to the Biblical patriarch Jacob (Yaqub).
Addressing the children, Saleem asked them to identify Jacob’s “title,” prompting answers that led him to state that Jews are named after this title and that Israel—described by him as an “illegal country”—is also named after it.
NEWSRAEL: WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Introducing politicized and delegitimizing narratives about Israel to children in a religious setting raises serious concerns about the normalization of hostility and the transmission of ideological messages to minors. Such content contributes to polarization, fuels antisemitism, and underscores how extremist or radical viewpoints can be embedded early through community programming—an issue with broader implications for social cohesion and public safety.