A faith-based civil society organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has appealed to the Federal Government, states and parastatals to resist the temptation of doing business with Israel. The group criticized a deal between Nigeria and Israel’s foreign ministries involving forty startups in the country. MURIC argued that any business deal with Israel is a romance with a terrorist state.
In a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC’s Founder and Executive Director, described the startups as vehicles of deception from a rogue genocidal state.
The full statement reads:
“On Monday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel-Harpaz announced her country’s startup initiative in Abuja. Sharren, who spoke in the presence of officials of the Nigerian foreign ministry, said the initiative will involve forty startups.
“MURIC hereby expresses strong reservations about this deal. It suffers from acute desertification of conscience. It is morally wrong for Nigeria to sign any business deal with Israel at a time the Zionist state is at loggerheads with the rest of the world. Israel has defied the United Nations. The genocidal state mocks all 193 member countries of the UN.
“As we speak, Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians between 7th October and today. Christians have been killed inside churches, while children and women form the majority of Israel’s victims. Landlocked Palestine is being starved to death. The fundamental human rights violations of Israel are astounding.
“Doing business with Israel at this moment is akin to dancing on the graves of those innocent women and children massacred by a belligerent, war-mongering and recalcitrant state. Every single shekel from the Bank of Israel is blood money.
“MURIC appeals to the Federal Government, states and parastatals to resist the temptation of doing business with Israel. We charge Nigerians to shun Israel’s money and its genocide-infested businesses. Any business deal with Israel is a romance with a terrorist state.”
