Who is ex-Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, glorified at anti-Hindutva event in Kerala?

Former political leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, now a senior leader of the faction, Khaled Meshaal, on Friday made public remarks about the raid in Southern Israel. The longtime member of the Islamist terror group said that he was “well aware of the consequences” of the October 7 raid into Israel that claimed 1,400 lives of the civilians.

But the Head of Hamas’ diaspora office insisted that the Palestinians are required to sacrifice their lives in order to “liberate” themselves from what he labelled as the ‘Jewish occupation.’ Often seen giving a combative interview to mostly the Arab press, the Hamas’ senior leader, based in Qatar, urged the Muslim world to come out in support of Palestinians, and asked the “peoples of neighbouring countries to join the fight against Israel.”

"[We must] head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world,” Meshaal, member of the terrorist group Hamas that operates from Gaza who took civilians from Israel hostages, said.

Ex-leader of the Hamas urged Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt to join in his group’s fight to “destroy” Israel, saying that they have a bigger duty to support the Palestinians. "Tribes of Jordan, sons of Jordan, brothers and sisters of Jordan... This is a moment of truth and the borders are close to you, you all know your responsibility,' Meshaal said via a recorded statement as Hamas launched a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv after going on a rampage and killing Israelis on October 7.

“To all scholars who teach jihad to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application (of theories),” Meshaal asserted.

But who is Khaled Meshaal, leader of terrorist organisation Hamas who called for Friday 13th uprising?

Meshaal’s profile

Meshaal was declared as the chief of the terrorist organisation Hamas in 1992. He was born in 1956 in Silwad, West Bank. His family moved from the West Bank to Jordan and later to Kuwait during the Six-Day War in 1967. Meshaal, the terrorist group leader, has since stayed overseas while he operates the terror group in Gaza.

Meshaal joined the Hamas in 1987 shortly after the terrorist group was founded by the Palestinian cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. In 1991, he was expelled along with the 300,000 Palestinians from Kuwait after United States and coalition troops toppled the then dictator Saddam Hussein, defeated Iraq and liberated Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. It was this year that Meshaal lead the Hamas chapter by becoming in charge of the international fund-raising for the terror group. By 1996, he was appointed as the chief of Hamas’ political bureau. 

Survived Mossad’s assassination attempt

Meshaal survived an assassination attempt five years later when Israel’s Mossad agents posing as tourists with fake Canadian passports tried to poison him in Amman, Jordan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by Jordan that Mossad agents will be put on trial if Meshaal wasn’t given the antidote. Succumbing under pressure, Tel Aviv resorted to releasing several Palestinian and Jordanian prisoners, including Yassin.

Illegal political activities, fundraising for Hamas

Meshaal was involved in rigorous illegal political activity for the terrorist group Hamas, including fundraising and lobbying. Jordan’s King Abdullah II shut Hamas’ office in Amman, and expelled the Hamas powerful leader. In 2001, Meshaal was reported to have reloaded to Damascus, Syria. Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas was killed in Israeli air strikes, with Abdel Aziz Rantisi replacing him a few months later. 

Climbing on top of Hamas’ leadership ladder

In 2004, as an Israeli airstrike on Rantisi’s car killed Rantisi, Meshaal immediately climbed to the top of the Hamas leadership along with Ismail Haniyeh, now a senior political leader of Hamas and the political leader of Hamas bureau. Meshaal stepped down as Hamas leader in 2012 following the May 6, 2017, election of deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as his successor.

What transition did Hamas witness under him?

During his 13 years of leadership, Meshaal transitioned the Hamas from purely terrorist organization into a terrorist-political hybrid organisation after he was elected second-in-command of the terror group. He is now based in Qatar as a “dear guest” and acts as a public face for the Hamas. Under him, he has steered the terrorist organization to kill hundreds of Israeli citizens, as well as US citizens in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. The faction expelled the Palestinian Authority in 2007 and took total control of the Gaza Strip. 

When was he designated as a global terrorist?

• Australia designated “Khaled Meshaal” as terrorist on November 21, 2003. 
• UK proscribed “Khaled Meshaal” as terrorist on March 24, 2004
• US Department of the Treasury designated “Khaled Meshaal” as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on August 22, 2003