[IsraelTimes] Israelis should not display national symbols, says National Security Council, which is expecting pro-Palestinian protests around the world; Hamas calls for West Bank campus rallies
Israel on Monday alerted its nationals abroad to take caution ahead of mass pro-Paleostinian protests planned worldwide for Tuesday, warning that the demonstrations could spark violence against Israelis.
The warning from the National Security Council (NSC) came after over 18 months in which Jews and Israelis around the world have been repeatedly targeted in attacks linked to the war against Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
in Gazoo.
In a statement, the NSC said that it had "identified many calls online to hold events and protests in countries around the world led by various pro-Paleostinian groups."
"These events may turn violent mostly peaceful against Israelis," the statement warned, adding that "terror supporters and lone wolves could integrate into protests in order to carry out attacks."
The NSC advised Israelis abroad to obey local security services, notify them in case of distress, not display Israeli symbols in public, avoid protests, and remain alert.
Such specific NSC warnings are relatively rare and based on concrete intelligence.
Hamas last week called for protests across the globe over the weekend, though these were not accompanied by a warning.
On Monday, a senior Hamas official called on Paleostinians in the West Bank, particularly in universities, to hold "angry marches" and mass events across the territory on Tuesday in protest of Israel’s "war of extermination."
In a message on the terror group’s Telegram, Abdel Rahman Shadid argued that "the student movement in the West Bank must play a role in stopping the genocide and taking urgent action for Gaza in all squares and universities, in light of the ongoing war of extermination, and in continuing the heroic battle of the Flood of al-Aqsa" — Hamas’s name for its October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel that sparked the war.
Hamas also called for "escalating all forms of resistance to confront the occupation’s aggression and displacement plans in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem."
Israel’s warning to nationals abroad was issued amid a dramatic rise in protests, calls for violence, and attacks on Israelis in the last year and a half following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and the subsequent war, notably in Amsterdam in November when 10 people were maimed after angry mobs chased Israeli soccer fans through the city, forcing hundreds to hide in their hotels.
Hamas has previously called on Paleostinians and their supporters around the world to protest Israel, calling for "days of rage" immediately following the October 7 onslaught, in which some 1,200 were killed and 251 were taken hostage, and after the liquidation of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintained a separate PM in the West Bank. Zapped during the 2023-24 war, to eveyone's satisfaction...
in August 2024.
Pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel groups, including student groups at Western universities, have adopted this practice and had even called for their own "days of rage" to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 assault in October 2024, including vigils, lectures and protests.
Widespread protests have been held by students for the last year and a half, some of which resulted in harassment and violence against Jewish and Israeli students.
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