Hamas calls for mass protests on Friday

The terror group Hamas calls for mass protests on Friday to mark “a day to defend Gaza, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.”

In a statement, the Palestinian terror group addresses in particular Muslims in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the rest of Israel, urging them to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the capital’s Temple Mount and barricade themselves inside it to “thwart attempts by extremists to desecrate it.”

The call comes on the 55th anniversary of an arson attack on the third-holiest place for Muslims carried out by a Christian Australian on August 21, 1969, which destroyed parts of the structure. Even though the arsonist acted independently, some Palestinian groups at the time accused Israel of plotting the attack.

In its statement, Hamas claims Israel was “complicit,” and accuses it of attempting today to impose its sovereignty over the whole compound of the mosque, known to Jews as Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and the place where the two Jewish Temples once stood.