The Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist organization's leader abroad, Khaled Mashal, compared students' assistance in his group's mission to destroy Israel to those who helped the Muslims take over Jerusalem from the Christians.
"We thank the great student flood which emerged from the American, European, and western universities," Mashal said on May 18, per a translation from the Middle East Media Research Insitute. "We are grateful for the spirit that we have witnessed in our nation, and in humanity as a whole."
He went on to suggest that "Gaza has changed the region and the world" adding that thanks to the support of those in western nations, "we have an opportunity to defeat Israel, Allah willing."
"We have an opportunity to dismantle the Zionist enterprise ... and to make Palestine a blessing to mankind," Mashal added, before telling those protesting on university campuses what they should do next.
"The first step is to continue what you started immediately following October 7," he said. "Continue your financial jihad. We want a continuous financial flood in support of Gaza to provide the people shelter, aid, and food, and in support of the mujahideen and in order to buy weapons for them."
Mashal called for "a flood in the form of a siege of the Israeli and American embassies," and prosecution of the leaders of the Jewish state at the Hague.
He praised those who have taken part in jihad, and urged supporters around the world to join the "resistance."
"Being far away does not absolve us from the duty of jihad," Mashal said, citing the Muslims' seizure of Jerusalem and surrounding territory from the Christian crusaders, which was accomplished with outside support.
He concluded by declaring that the destruction of the Jewish state would be "good for the Arabs [and] the Muslims," and that "annihilating the Zionists is good for humanity as a whole."
