French Antifa calls for ‘striking a blow’ in Paris over US Jerusalem recognition

JTA

(JTA) — Amid rioting in the West Bank, the Paris branch of the far-left Antifa organization appeared to call for Israel’s destruction and for violent protests in that city against the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The call to arms by the Antifa organization in Paris, or Antifascist Action by its full name, came of Friday amid rioting in Israel and the West Bank in which at least 50 Palestinians were injured over President Donald Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem Wednesday night, which he made despite warnings by Palestinian, Arab and European leaders that it would trigger riots.

Noting that CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities “is asking President Emmanuel Macron to also recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, we can strike a blow against the imperialist West from within the belly of the beast,” the Paris Antifa group wrote in a call on Facebook inviting supporters to a demonstration at Republique square on Saturday “against the colonization of Jerusalem.”

The invitation ended with the words: “Al Quds belongs to the Palestinians, Palestine stretches from the sea to the Jordan River.”

Macron has said that France “does not approve” of Trump’s policy on Jerusalem.

Israel western marine border is Mediterranean Sea and its eastern one ends at the River Jordan. Al Quds is the Arabic-language name that many Arabs use to refer to Jerusalem.

In 2014, dozens of Arab men besieged 150 congregants at a Paris synagogue during a wave of riots over Israel’s strikes in Gaza against Hamas.

On Thursday, a man waving a Palestinian flag was arrested outside a kosher restaurant in Amsterdam after he broke its windows and forced his way in as passersby and two police officers looked on. The man, a 29-year-old with a temporary residence permit, has been released pending further investigation of his actions, police said.

Palestinian medical services recorded more than 50 injuries in total on Thursday and Friday in the riots in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, nine of which are injuries with live ammunition, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.

Of the live-bullet injuries, four were reported to be in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and five from the Gaza Strip. Also in Ramallah, eight Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated bullets, Ma’an reported. Israel Defense Forces troops and Border Police officers confronted the rioters in multiple locales in the West Bank, using crowd dispersal means on them, the IDF Spokesperson Unit said.

In Gaza, four Palestinians from the southern district of Khan Younis were injured with live ammunition, and one Palestinian from northeastern Gaza was injured. The injuries, which the wounded men sustained after approaching the border fence during riots encourages by Hamas, were reported as light to moderate.

In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, medics told Ma’an that at least three Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated bullets while two, including a young boy, were treated for tear-gas inhalation.

In Malaysia and Indonesia, hundreds demonstrated outside the US embassies in those countries on Friday to protest the recognition.

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