Hamas leader Mashaal hails ‘Great Student Flood’ on US campuses

Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal expressed his gratitude for the “Great Student Flood,” referring to anti-Israel demonstrations on U.S. university campuses, and called for a “financial flood,” a “legal flood” and a “media flood.”

“Al Aqsa Flood” is Hamas’s name for the Oct. 7 massacre and the war it ignited.

Mashaal, the head of Hamas’s political wing, made the remarks during his address to the Flood of the Free conference hosted in Istanbul by the Muslim Brotherhood, his terrorist group’s parent organization.

The address was posted on the Facebook page of the Global Coalition for Quds and Palestine and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

At the same conference, Indian Islamic scholar Maulana Salman Hussaini Nadwi called for Muslims worldwide to attack Israel, eliminate “this worm” and destroy Tel Aviv.

“We thank the Great Student Flood, which emerged from the American, European and Western universities, and has reached all the countries of our nation. We are grateful for the spirit that we have witnessed in our nation, and in humanity as a whole. We are grateful to the free people of the world,” said Mashaal.

“The world is changing. Gaza has changed the region and the world. Gaza has revealed the nobility of humanity,” he continued.

“We have the opportunity to defeat Israel, Allah willing. We have an opportunity to dismantle the Zionist enterprise. We have an opportunity to change the world, and to make Palestine a blessing to mankind, by annihilating the Zionists and their sinful enterprise,” he said.

He called for Hamas supporters to take a series of “major steps,” including public demonstrations, media campaigns, “financial jihad” and finally, actively joining the “resistance.”

“The first step is to continue what you started immediately following Oct. 7. The activities and the programs that you have held throughout the past eight months—you should continue them,” said the Hamas leader, who is based in Doha, Qatar.

Financial jihad

Mashaal called for a “continuous financial flood” in support of Gaza, not only for humanitarian aid but also a “financial jihad” to “support … the mujahideen [jihadi warriors], and in order to buy weapons for them.”

Hamas also desires “millions to return to the streets” in a “flood of the public” that includes a “siege” of U.S. and Israeli embassies, he said.

“We want the masses of our nation to remain in the streets, in support of the war in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank. They should declare their rage against the Zionists and their supporters. We want a flood in the form of a siege of the Israeli and American embassies. We want constant rage that will stop this aggression.”

To aid these efforts, Mashaal called for a “media flood” to ensure that the “truthful Palestinian narrative” reaches worldwide and “to control all social media platforms and all forums.”

Referring to proceedings against Israel in the International Criminal Court, Mashaal said, “We want a legal flood, like in The Hague.”

“We should prosecute the criminal killers. We stand by South Africa and the countries that have now joined it—Turkey, Libya and Egypt,” he said, referring to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICC.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes.

Finally, Mashaal called for supporters to “become involved in the battle of jihad and resistance,” Hamas’s euphemism for terrorism.

“Today, we have a greater duty to do more than all we have done before,” he said. “Indeed, on several fronts, there is blessed participation in the jihad, and we are grateful to the people behind it,” he added, in an apparent reference to the ongoing attacks against Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. “We want total integration in the battle on the ground. Today, we want a flood of jihad and resistance,” he said.

All Muslims are duty-bound to join this “blessed jihadi flood,” he continued, referencing the capture of Jerusalem from the Crusaders by Salah ad-Din in 1187 C.E. If they do so, they will “see wonders,” he added.

“Being far way does not absolve us from the duty of jihad and resistance. This is a great honor. When the Muslims recaptured Palestine, Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque from the Crusaders, this duty was not shouldered only by the people of Palestine or the Levant,” said Mashaal. “The entire nation came under the banner of Saladin. Today, the Islamic nation is obligated to join this blessed jihadi flood. When it does, we will see wonders.”

The “Al-Aqsa Flood war” was good not only for Arabs and Muslims, he concluded, but for “humanity as a whole,” as it would mean “annihilating the Zionists.”

Originally published by the Middle East Media Research Institute.