Doha: 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.
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.’
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 ex-Hamas chief 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.
In London on Monday, pro-Palestine protesters – some with flags and flares – banged drums and chanted ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. At other protests across the UK, activists proclaimed: ‘Let there be bloodshed.’
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.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 1,354 people have been killed and more than 6,000 injured in the crowded coastal enclave.
