‘THERE WILL BE BLOOD’: Hamas Issues ‘Unambiguous Call to Arms’ in ‘Support of Jihad-Waging Gaza’
Hamas issued a “Declaration of General Mobilization” Tuesday in what an expert warned was an “unambiguous call to arms” after Israel declared war following the Hamas’ terrorist incursion Saturday that killed more than 900 Israelis, including beheading babies.
“A call to our Palestinian people, the masses of the Arab and Islamic world, and free people worldwide,” the statement reads, as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. “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.”
The statement refers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Western Wall of the Second Jewish Temple, a site of regular tensions between Jews and Muslims. (Read the full statement below.)
“We call upon our rebellious youth throughout the West Bank, in its cities, villages, and uprising camps, in the streets and neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and at the squares of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to rise up, join massive demonstrations, and shake the ground beneath the feet of the Zionist invaders and their settler gangs,” the statement adds. “Engage with their soldiers and cowardly army in every place, affirming the unity of destiny and the path towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, liberating them from the defilement of the Zionist occupation.”
Hamas urges “the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation and our Palestinian people in all places” to march toward “the borders of our beloved Palestine in massive gatherings.” It also urges “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.”
Robert Greenway, director of the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that the statement will result in bloodshed. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
“It is an unambiguous global call to arms,” Greenway said. “It will be heeded. There will be blood.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces reported having regained control over the border with the Gaza Strip, roughly 72 hours after Hamas terrorists blew through sections of the barrier and launched the invasion early Saturday morning, The Times of Israel reported.
Hamas militants attacked Israel on the last day of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, as well as the Sabbath day of rest and the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. The terrorists slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis, including about 250 at a music festival, and kidnapped more than 100. The State Department confirmed Wednesday that 22 Americans had died in the attack.
“This morning, on Shabbat and a holiday, Hamas invaded Israeli territory and murdered innocent citizens, including children and the elderly,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday. “Hamas has started a brutal and evil war.”
“They didn’t go for military targets. They went for civilians. They went for grandmothers, children, babies,” Israel Defense Forces’ international spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said in a video message Sunday. “The numbers are unprecedented.”
“The style of attack is barbaric,” Hecht added. “In a way, this is our 9/11.”
Hamas militants shot civilians at bus stops, on roads, and in their cars, photos show, according to Israeli experts who spoke to the Times of Israel. Videos reportedly show Israeli civilians, including women and children, getting abducted and taken to Gaza. Two videos raise concerns of sexual assault or rape.
An Israel Defense Forces commander told journalists that soldiers found beheaded babies in the carnage of Hamas terrorists.
Israeli forces have launched airstrikes into Gaza, preparing for an assault to root out Hamas in response to the horrific terrorist incursion.
President Joe Biden has unequivocally stood with Israel in the attack’s aftermath, though critics have claimed that Biden’s negotiations with Iran—including a $6 billion prisoner swap—emboldened Tehran, which supports and finances Hamas.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi who left Ohio for Israel and who founded the news outlet Israel365, told The Daily Signal that Hamas’ call to arms represented an act of desperation.
“They’re posturing,” Weisz wrote in a WhatsApp message Wednesday. “There won’t be Hamas by Friday.”
He said Hamas aims to mobilize people outside Gaza “because they’re getting destroyed.”
Yet Hamas’ reach extends far beyond Gaza. Protesters have expressed support for Palestine—and in some cases, clear support for the Hamas attacks—in cities across the West. Some chapters of the American group Black Lives Matter have expressed support for Hamas after the attacks.
Students for Justice in Palestine, a U.S. pro-Palestinian group that has reportedly harassed Jews on college campuses, has organized a national “day of resistance” for Thursday.
Even if no Hamas exists in Gaza on Friday, the terrorist group’s supporters worldwide may pose a threat on that day—especially inside Israel.
Khaled Mashal, a former leader and founding member of Hamas, delivered a speech broadcast on the Yemeni TV channel Ah Mahriah, apparently echoing the key points of the Hamas statement.
Rachid Hammami, a Moroccan former Muslim convert to Christianity, drew attention to Mashal’s speech on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Go out into places, squares, in the Arab and Islamic streets, and throughout the communities everywhere,” Mashal said, according to Hammami’s translation. “There is a call on Friday, the Friday of the Al-Aqsa flood. But we do it before Friday, after Friday, and on Friday.”
He called for financial support to Gaza and Hamas: “This is a jihad with money, just as [Hamas members] are fighting with their souls.”
“He asked political pressure, from Muslim leaders and Muslim nations, to stop Israel’s military invasion of Gaza,” Hammami wrote of Mashal’s remarks. “The most important thing: He asked all Muslims around the world to carry Jihad by their souls; to fight and be martyrs for Al-Aqsa. He wants Muslims to fight against the Jews, starting with Muslims who live in the countries surrounding Israel: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt (but also other countries), to go to the borders and try to enter, each by his own means.”
Hammami told The Daily Signal that Mashal “used terminology we all know in Jihad. He used a very special term. It’s like a code.”
“We call ‘Al-Nnafir Al-A’M,’” the former Muslim said. “This is used in extreme cases where everybody should carry an arm and do what he can.”
Hammami predicted “possible terrorist attacks next Friday (or even before), in European countries and the U.S. against Jewish targets, and also American targets.” He also predicted “possible attacks against Americans and Jews in some of the Muslim countries.”
“I predict no one will show up at the borders of Israel to carry Jihad,” Hammami added.
Source » dailysignal.com
