According to veteran Congress leader from Kerala, Rajmohan Unnithan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal who is conducting genocide in Palestine and it is time to shoot and murder him without a trial. The startling remarks were made during an anti-Israel demonstration and gathering hosted by the Kasaragod United Muslim Jama-ath, a group of mosques in and around the town of Kasaragod.
The Lok Sabha member claimed that the Sunni terrorist organisation Islamic Resistance Movement, commonly known as Hamas which is in control of the Gaza Strip, turned to violence in order to defend its people, land and lives. “They are not terrorists. If anyone portrays Hamas as terrorists, it is time to strongly react to them.” The event took place in the vicinity of Kasaragod’s Malik Dinar Mosque which is the country’s second-oldest mosque.
He charged that the United States slaughtered tens of thousands of Arabs or Muslims in Iraq, seventy thousand Muslims in Afghanistan and innocent people in Korea and Vietnam. “But America’s greed for war has not been satiated. That is what we are seeing in Palestine. Those who kill lakhs of people are patriots, but those who kill someone to protect their own land are extremists. If they are extremists, each of us is with the extremists.”
He voiced, “After World War II, something called the Nuremberg trials was used for those engaged in war crimes. In the Nuremberg trials, war criminals were shot dead without a trial. It’s high time a Nuremberg model trial is carried out. Benjamin Netanyahu is standing before the world as a war criminal. It’s high time to shoot and kill Netanyahu without a trial because that’s the level of cruelty he is doing.” He emphasised that punishment should be meted out to individuals who violate every provision of the Geneva Convention.
Mahatma Gandhi made India’s stance on Palestine known prior to the independence. The Kasaragod MP mentioned, “In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Harijan magazine that like America is for Americans, England for the English and France for the French, Palestine is for the Palestinians.” India recognised Palestine as a nation under Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister. “At Indira Gandhi’s funeral, I remember Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sobbing during the funeral procession in Delhi. He said his sister was gone. India had an emotional bond with Palestine.”
He even expressed his displeasure about being an Indian. “Now, I am ashamed to have been born in India. Is our Prime Minister not ashamed to back the US? Today Rishi Sunak, a person of Indian origin is the prime minister of the UK. But I am ashamed of him. The Indian Prime Minister has shamed India by agreeing to become a vassal of the US and the UK.”
He suggested that people worldwide should band together to put an end to the devastation in Gaza. “If the Islamic world comes together, even a speck of Benjamin Netanyahu will not be found. But they are peace-loving people. They have patience and self-restraint. Hamas took up arms because their patience was tested time and again.”
On 23 November, amidst the current Israel-Hamas conflict, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is scheduled to stage a protest at the Kozhikode beach to express sympathy with the Palestinian people. The anti-Israel assembly is going to be inaugurated by KC Venugopal, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee.
Starling statements by other Islamic leaders at the rally
Twaqa Ahmed Azhari Kasiyarakam, an Islamic scholar and qazi from Keezhur and Mangaluru urged the assembly to ignore anyone who referred to Hamas as a terrorist group. “Jews are one of the most blessed communities in the world. They are known for their intelligence and shrewdness. But they are showing their true colours in Gaza. He prayed to God for the people of Gaza to be granted justice and bravery and for wisdom and protection to be accorded to the Hamas forces. “We should be emotionally involved with them in the war.”
Islamic orator Ahmed Kabeer Baqavi, chairman of the Hamdan Foundation which provides courses on the Quran and the teachings of the Islamic Prophet justified the Holocaust and declared that the killings of women and newborns at the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza explained the reason Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler massacred Jews. “In this evening, if you feel slight respect for a slight moment for Adolf Hitler, the cruellest man the world has seen.”
He added that in addition to Nazi Germany, the US, France, and Hungary also executed thousands of Jews and stressed, “People started killing Jews. Why? Because of their actions.” He proclaimed that Israel was established by the US and the UK to dispose of “waste that washed up on their land.”
He compared Indian freedom fighters Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh’s demand for violent resistance against the British to that of Hamas. He incorporated that Yasser Arafat advocated for nonviolent resistance much like Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi.
K Ali Kutty Musliyar, general secretary of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulamaor, an organisation of Sunni-Shafi’i scholars in northern Kerala was the main speaker and remarked that the fact that women, children and the elderly all attended the rally made the event lovely.
The meeting’s intention, per Kasaragod MLA N A Nellikkunnu who presided over it, was to pray for Gaza. A K M Ashraf, the Majeshwar MLA also spoke briefly and reaffirmed his support for the Palestinian people. Members of the mosques connected to the Kasaragod United Muslim Jama-ath marched in support of the Gazans from Pullikkunnu to Malik Dinar Nagar before the meeting.
Israel Hamas War
There have been thousands of deaths in the Israel-Hamas conflict which entered Day 43. War erupted when Hamas attacked Israel murdering civilians everywhere they went, including inside houses. The Israeli army has begun attacking the Gaza Strip and certain areas of Palestine in retaliation. Israeli police announced on 18 November that at least 364 people had been killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October by Hamas terrorists.
