Pro-Palestinian protesters set fire to the Israeli embassy in Mexico City, Mexico earlier this week. The attack came amid increasing tensions behind the protests and praise for the demonstrators, including from al-Qaeda.
Protesters set the embassy on fire Tuesday following a demonstration. The demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at the building as they clashed with police.
The incident reportedly involved around 200 protesters. During the struggle with police officers, six police were injured. The police utilized tear gas against the crowd.
The pro-Palestinian protest movement grew significantly in the last several months, especially on college campuses. However, these protests were also marred by clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.
The terrorist group al Qaeda, formerly led by Osama bin Laden, praised students protesting against Israel in a statement.
Al-Qaida central, in new message, praises killing of an Israeli businessman in Egypt on May 7 by group calling itself "The Vanguards of the Liberation," urging Muslims to follow their example. The statement goes on to praise pro-Palestine student protestors in the West, writing: pic.twitter.com/a1SuRqwPJN
— Cole Bunzel (@colebunzel) May 28, 2024
“As we support the assassination & beheading of Zionist unbelievers, so also we value & appreciate the movement of Western protesters & occupiers from among the students of Western universities, who by their occupying & protests have expressed their rejection of the ongoing genocide in proud Gaza,” read the statement.
The praise also came after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for student protesters to read the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
Protests have also grown since an Israeli airstrike last week killed two ranking Hamas leaders. Palestinian sources claim that the strike killed several dozen civilians.
However, a preminary investigation shows that the explosion that killed the civilians may have instead been caused by a Palestinian weapons cache.
The situation is similar to the strike on the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza last year. After an initial claim that hundreds of civilians were killed, the true number was far lower. Israel accused Hamas of using the hospital for its operations.
The current conflict in the Middle East came after the Hamas terrorist attack last Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people. The Palestinian city of Rafah in Gaza remains the group’s final stronghold after nearly eight months of conflict in the region.