Former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal calls for day of jihad on Friday the 13th, and tells Muslims to ‘take to the streets’ in protest against Israel
- Khaled Meshaal led Hamas from 2004 to 2017 and now lives in Qatar
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A former Hamas chief has called for protests to take place across the Muslim world on Friday in support of the Palestinians, and for the peoples of neighboring countries to join the fight against Israel.
‘[We must] head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world on Friday,’ said Khaled Meshaal, who currently heads Hamas’s diaspora office.
Meshaal, who is based in Qatar, said the governments and peoples of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt have a bigger duty to support the Palestinians.
‘Tribes of Jordan, sons of Jordan, brothers and sisters of Jordan… This is a moment of truth and the borders are close to you, you all know your responsibility,’ Meshaal said in a recorded statement. ‘To all scholars who teach jihad… to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application (of theories).‘
Jordan and Lebanon are home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees.
Khaled Meshaal – a former Hamas chief – has called for protests to take place across the Muslim world on Friday in support of the Palestinians, and for the peoples of neighboring countries to join the fight against Israel, in a video statement recorded in Qatar (pictured)
‘Hamas does not represent Palestine,’ reads a sign held at a pro-Palestine protest in Lima, Peru on Wednesday
Meshaal’s call for a Friday 13th uprising was reiterated by Hamas itself, according to the Israeli-run, Washington DC-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
MEMRI said that Hamas urged its supporters in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel to rise up in what he called ‘the Al-Aqsa Flood‘ – echoing what the the secretive Palestinian mastermind Mohammed Deif calls the attack he launched on Saturday against Israel.
The phrase Israel’s most wanted man used in an audio tape broadcast as Hamas fired thousands of rockets out of the Gaza Strip over the weekend signaled the attack was their payback for Israeli raids at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque.
‘We declare next Friday, ”The Friday of the Al-Aqsa Flood,” as a day of general mobilization in our Arab and Islamic world and among the free people of the world,’ Meshaal’s statement said, which was sent to Reuters news agency.
‘It is a day to rally support, offer aid, and participate actively.
‘It is a day to expose the crimes of the occupation, isolate it, and foil all its aggressive schemes. It is a day to demonstrate our love for Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa.
‘It is a day for sacrifice, heroism, and dedication, and to earn the honour of defending the first Qibla of Muslims, the third holiest mosque, and the ascension of the trusted Messenger.’
Khaled Meshaal, the former leader of Hamas, is pictured in October 2018 in Istanbul. He has called for a ‘Day of Jihad’ on Friday, in a statement released from Qatar, where he now lives
Meshaal also praised those who took part on the attack in Israel. Oh my brothers and sisters, oh all my family and a quarter of this nation,’ he said. ‘These are your brothers and sisters who created this glory. They created this flood: Al-Aqsa Flood.’
The terrorist group said all should back their ‘just cause’.
‘We call upon the free people of the world to mobilize in solidarity with our Palestinian people and in support of their just cause and legitimate rights to freedom, independence, return, and self-determination,’ the group said.
There have already been several protests following Saturday’s attack by Hamas against Israel, including on the streets of the UK and Australia.
While some have been held in solidarity with the victims on both sides of the conflict, others have demonstrated the deep and ugly divisions that are felt around the world over the issue.
Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023
Rescuers retrieve bodies from house targeted by Israeli airstrike
Israeli artillery fire rounds into the Gaza Strip from the border on October 12
Supporters of Muttahida Shariat Mahaz Pakistan conservative party during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Peshawar, Pakistan, 12 October 2023
Video showed dozens of police officers attempting to separate demonstrators at High Street Kensington Tube station in west London as more than 1,000 pro-Palestine activists gathered on the streets outside.
In Sheffield, video footage posted on social media showed two people scaling the city’s town hall and pulling down an Israeli flag during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the building on Tuesday evening.
The flag was seen to be thrown from the landmark 200ft high Victorian structure and replaced with the Palestinian flag, to cheers from those gathered below.
On the other side of the globe in Sydney, a pro-Palestinian rally outside the city’s iconic Opera House on Monday ignited fury in the country after a small group were filmed chanting ‘gas the Jews’ while waving a Palestinian flag, in sickening scenes.
In response to the protests and the escalating situation in Israel, the head of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency on Thursday warned about the potential for opportunistic violence and called for calm as tensions rise ahead of another planned pro-Palestinian protest in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
In rare public statement, Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said protests and rallies following the attacks by Hamas are likely to continue and he remained concerned about opportunistic violence.
Speaking on Thursday, a woman who hosted a press conference held by two British people whose relatives were kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on Saturday condemned those who celebrated the atrocities.
As the conference began, the host gave an impassioned speech before handing over to Noam and Sharon.
‘Hamas… is a modern day death squad. They went door to door, snatched babies from their mothers and children from their beds and brutally, cold-bloodedly slaughtered them,’ she said.
‘Girls were raped over their friends’ bodies, many survivors were kidnapped.
‘These horrific acts were celebrated on the streets of Tehran, Gaza and even by some here in London. We have never before in Israel experienced such a traumatic event, which will take years, if not generations, to overcome.
‘This is the biggest hostage crisis the world has faced in decades,’ she added.
Meshaal’s rallying call to the Muslim world came as Israel vowed to escalate its response to an attack by Hamas with a ground offensive, after Israeli fighter jets struck more than 200 targets in Gaza city overnight.
A pro-Palestine protest is held outside The Israeli embassy in London, Kensington, October 9
Palestinian and Israeli supporters clashed at a London Underground station on Monday night as police desperately tried to keep the peace
A pro-Palestine rally is held outside the Sydney Opera House in Sydney on October 9
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 1,354 people have been killed and more than 6,000 injured in the crowded coastal enclave.
READ MORE: Israeli girls ‘were raped over their friends’ bodies’ by Hamas terrorists, British relative reveal
The bodies of at least 1,300 people have been recovered, a number that could rise.
Most were civilians gunned down in their homes, on the streets or at a dance party that was attacked by gunmen who stormed across the border from Gaza.
Scores of Israeli and foreign hostages were also taken back to Gaza by the terrorists, with Israel saying it has identified 97 of them so far.
The full scale of the killings has emerged in recent days after Israeli forces reclaimed control of towns, finding homes strewn with bodies. They say they found women who had been raped and killed, and children who were shot and burned.
Israel has responded so far by putting Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and launching by far the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying whole neighbourhoods.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals could run out within hours.
‘The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians,’ ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni said in a statement on Thursday.
‘As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays canât be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.’
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Thursday on a trip to show solidarity with Israel, help prevent the war from spreading and push for the release of hostages, including American citizens.
He will also visit Jordan on Friday to meet King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority that operates limited self-rule in the West Bank.
Qatar is also working with the United States to try and establish a line of communication with Hamas to try and negotiate for the release of hostages, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, was asked at an earlier briefing whether the administration is in contact directly or indirectly with Hamas about securing their release, and whether he could describe their condition.
‘Now, where they are and in what condition, no,’ said Kirby.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike, ongoing on its 6th day in Gaza City on October 12
Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023
Palestinians evacuate wounded after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip
Search and rescue operations continue in the destroyed buildings and debris after the attack on Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza on October 12, 2023
He said the White House does not know if they are being kept together, and whether they are being moved around.
‘Sadly we don’t know. And that makes efforts very, very difficult.’
He also told ABC White House Correspondent Mary Alice Parks he is ‘not aware of any specific proof of life on any individual hostage.’
Kirby added that the U.S. is in discussion with countries that have lines of communications with Hamas, such as Qatar, to discuss working to free the hostages. Several former senior Hamas leaders live in Qatar.