In the midst of escalating tensions between the Palestinians and Israel, Hamas is encouraging Palestinians to behead Jews using ordinary kitchen knives.
“People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut of the heads of the Jews with knives,” said Senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad to Palestinians in Jerusalem Friday, in a video translated by the Middle East Media and Research Institute.
“With your hand, cut their artery from here. Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it here, and just cut off (their heads),” said Hammad as he demonstrated with his hand where to cut.
On Monday Israeli police and Palestinians violently clashed at Al Aqsa Mosque, where an estimated 300 Palestinians and over 20 police officers were injured.
Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli police officers to which the officers responded with tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets, according to reports.
According to current reports, up to 150 missiles were fired into Israel.
The rockets are reportedly being fired indiscriminately at civilians, sending thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters with their families.
Soon after, Hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets toward Jerusalem and southern Israel.
“The violence erupting in Jerusalem…is largely the result of decades-long antisemitic indoctrination by Palestinian leaders,” former paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Middle East analyst Yoni Michanie told The Foreign Desk.
The recent clashes mark perhaps the greatest escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seen in years.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Hamas is instigating Palestinians to further violence against Jews by telling them to spend “just five shekels” (equivalent to $1.50 US Dollars) to purchase a knife and “humiliate the Jewish state.”
“The international community’s response should be to diffuse tensions and condemn all violence against civilians,” said Michanie referring to pervasive anti-Israel sentiment on the global level where the blame is generally directed toward Israel when violence erupts between Israelis and Palestinians.
“The weaponization of Israeli and Palestinian frustrations will only yield more violence.”
