‘Day of jihad’: Teacher killed as violence erupts globally
International cities are on high alert after Hamas’ call for worldwide terror began with a knife-wielding attacker allegedly screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ killing a teacher in France.
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A teacher was killed in France, an Israel embassy staffer stabbed in the streets of Beijing, and police across the US were placed on high alert as Hamas’ call for a Day of Jihad erupted globally.
An attacker allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before a stabbing that left one dead and two seriously injured at a school in France, according to local media.
The 20-year-old suspect and his brother were arrested in connection to the stabbing of the assistant principal and gym teacher at the City School-Gambetta-Carnot, BFMTV reported.
It comes after senior figures in the Hamas movement called on all members of Islam to wage a “day of Jihad” worldwide which began with a massive anti-Israel rally in Iraq.
Law enforcement agencies across the United States were placed on high alert with an increased presence in major cities ahead of rallies planned to coincide with the Day of Jihad.
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office was investigating the stabbing as a terrorist attack, which came just hours after, President Emmanuel Macron urged national “unity” to avoid importing the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
In China, a staffer at the Israeli Embassy was repeatedly stabbed on a sidewalk by a male attacker, according to the South China Morning Post.
After a brief struggle, the victim gets away in a trail of blood as his attacker limps off.
“The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding they were still trying to assess the “background” of the attack.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned a “disgusting” and “massive” rise in anti-Semitic incidents following Hamas’s bloody attack on Israel.
“There’s been a quite frankly disgusting rise in anti-Semitic incidents over the past few days. That’s not right,” Sunak said.
According to London’s Metropolitan Police there has been a “massive increase in anti-Semitic crime and incidents”.
The Met’s deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor said there were 105 anti-Semitic incidents and 75 anti-Semitic offences between September 30 and October 13, compared to 14 incidents and 12 offences in the same period last year.
“We have provided extra funding to the Community Security Trust to make sure that Jewish institutions — whether that’s synagogue or schools — have all the protection they need and the police have all the support that they need to ensure that our streets are safe for people from all communities,” Sunak said.
“Because we will absolutely not tolerate people inciting hatred, or violence or racist activity. Intimidating or threatening behaviour will not be tolerated.
“It will be met with the full force of the law,” he added.
CALL FOR DAY OF JIHAD
The former leader of Hamas called on Muslims to stage demonstrations in support of Palestinians on Friday around the world, urging Arabs in neighbouring countries to take up arms against Israel.
Khaled Meshaal, who served as chief of Hamas from 2004 to 2017, called on the Islamic world to stage the protests.
“[We must] head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world on Friday,” Meshaal said in a recorded statement sent to Reuters.
Meshaal is based in Qatar, where he serves as the head of the Hamas diaspora office.
“To all scholars who teach jihad … to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application [of jihad],” he said.
Meshaal specifically called on the governments and peoples of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan to join the fight against Israel, characterising their involvement as a duty.
“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,” he said.
Jordan, Lebanon and Syria have the highest populations of Palestinians outside of Gaza.
It comes as police fired tear gas at pro-Palestinian supporters in Paris.
Across the world, demonstrations have sprung up daily for both sides in the conflict, with many leading to clashes between Palestinian and Israeli sympathisers in city streets.
The rallying cry came as Israeli forces continued to hit back at the Gaza Strip in response to the bloody sneak attack Hamas launched over the weekend, which left about 1,200 Israelis dead, over 100 taken hostage, and 2,700 wounded.
It was the deadliest attack on Israel in 75 years, and saw Hamas terrorists storming the country by land, sea and air, indiscriminately killing men, women and children as they raided villages near the border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was forming an emergency war cabinet with political opponents Wednesday as part of a vow to unify the country in response to the attacks and focus all efforts on hitting back at Hamas.
Rockets and Israeli fighter jets are continuing to bombard Hamas in retaliation.
Overnight, more than 200 targets were hit in Gaza City, and the strip remains under “total siege” from Israel.
Officials in Gaza said that retaliatory strikes by Israel on the Palestinian enclave had killed more than 1,400 people and wounded more than 6,250. The United Nations said that 12 of its workers had been killed in the fighting in Gaza since Saturday.
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