Former Hamas chief Khaled Mashel virtually addressed a Palenstine solidarity rally held in Kerala’s Malappuram on Friday, October 27. The rally was organised by the Solidarity Youth Movement, the youth organisation of Jamaat-e-Islami. The ten-minute-long address of Khaled Mashel sparked controversy with Bharatiya Janata Party’s state president K Suredran demanding police action.

According to a report by The Hindu, the Hamas leader said that the world should support the Palestinians who are “trying to liberate Masjid Al Aqsa from Zionist acts of terror”. He also said that continuous attempts had been made to destroy the mosque since 1967. 

Mashal had also said that Israel is taking revenge on Palestinians and has destroyed more than half of Gaza. “They are demolishing churches, temples, universities, and even institutions of the United Nations. They are nothing but cowardly enemies, seeking vengeance on innocent infants for their military defeats. Around 8,000 people have become martyrs, half of them children,” he said, according to a TNIE report.

Inaugurating the rally, Jamaat-e-Islami Central Council member Abdussalam Ahmed reportedly said that “a collective of racists were engaged in the genocide taking place in Palestine. India too is part of that collective and the world should speak up against it”, according to The Hindu.  

Reacting to the speech, BJP chief K Surendran said, “Hamas leader Khaled Mashel’s virtual address at the Solidarity event in Malappuram is alarming. Where’s Pinarayi Vijayan’s Kerala Police? Under the guise of ‘Save Palestine’, they are glorifying Hamas, a terrorist organisation, and its leaders as ‘warriors’. This is unacceptable.”