
British Islamist Roshan Salih, the Editor of 5Pillars, a UK-based English-language Islamist media outlet, said in a January 4, 2025 interview on the outlet's Blood Brothers podcast (hosted by British Islamist activist Dilly Hussain) that the current Arab regimes, which he described as "secular," have been pursuing full normalization with Israel. He said that this is unacceptable because Israel "cannot exist " in the Middle East, and he argued that Muslims' "focus" must be to ensure Israel ceases to exist regardless of how long it takes, even if this is not achieved in the coming generations. He said that therefore, Israel must never be granted so much as "one inch" of legitimacy. Podcast host Dilly Hussain, a British Islamist activist, expressed hope that the HTS-led regime in Syria will "awaken" with regard to this subject.
Roshan Salih: "All the secular states in the region, the Arab dictator states, they all justify their alliance with Israel, or their lack of aggressive posture towards Israel, on this basis. 'We need time to rebuild; we are not in a position to fight', etc.. And you can see what path, long term, these states have gone down, is to complete normalization, complete warm relationships with Israel.
"So, as far as I am concerned, this is still a state that has to... that cannot exist. It cannot exist as an apartheid state in the Middle East. And this has to be our focus as Muslims, however long it takes. Whether it takes my lifetime, our children's lifetimes, our grandchildren's lifetime – this is what has to happen. There can be no legitimacy for Israel whatsoever. That doesn't mean you have to be fighting it. It just means that you cannot give it one inch of legitimacy."
Podcast host Dilly Hussain: "Inshallah. I hope that not just new Syria, but that more Arab countries or Muslim countries in general awake to this."