"The Sixth Righteous Caliphate or Nor naronim farlozn zikh oyf nisim."

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 - Rachid Ghannouchi, who has been quoted as "embracing humanist Islam," is the co-founder of the Ennahda Movement, the largest political party in Tunisia. Three weeks ago he praised the Tunisian people for having rebelled. He urged them to continue what he called "this blessed revolution and to preserve it and to peruse equality, democracy and justice." It was reported at the time that Ghannouchi presented himself as the defender of individual freedom and worker's and women's rights.

Five days ago, Ennahda's general secretary, Hamadi Jebali, named as the party’s candidate for prime minister and reported in Western media as a "man of compromise and the moderate face of Tunisia’s Ennahda Islamist party," invited Hamas representative, Houda Naim to join him at a rally in the Tunisian resort city of Sousse for a "divine moment in a new state and in, hopefully, a 6th caliphate."

Issam Chelbi, representing the secular PDP party called the speech "very dangerous." "This is what we feared," he said.

If that wasn't enough, Jebali went one step further. "The liberation of Tunisia will, Allah willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem."

Both Ghannouchi and Jebali share a hatred of Israel, as pointed out yesterday by IPT News:

"The Arab Spring 'will achieve positive results on the path to the Palestinian cause and threaten the extinction of Israel,' Party leader and ideologue Rashid Ghannounshi said in a May interview with the Al Arab Qatari website. 'The liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation represents the biggest challenge facing the Umma [Muslim nation] and the Umma cannot have existence in light of the Israeli occupation.'"

Further, in the same interview, Ghannouchi said: "I give you the good news that the Arab region will get rid of the bacillus [bacteria] of Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, [who died in 2004] said that Israel will disappear by the year 2027. I say that this date may be too far away, and Israel may disappear before this."

There's a well-known Yiddish expression: Nor naronim farlozn zikh oyf nisim. (Only fools rely on miracles).