A joint statement signed by Indian Muslim leaders including Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat; Mujtaba Farooq, Convenor, Coordination Committee of Indian Muslims; Muhammad Ahmad, Political Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind; Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, President, Islahi Movement of India; Dr Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, Member, Working Committee, Muslim Personal Law Board; Dr Taslim Rahmani, President, Muslim Political Council of India; Prof. M.H. Jawahirullah, MLA, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi; and Lateef Mohd. Khan, Gen Secretary, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, Hyderabad on November 20 condemned the Israeli aggression against the people of Gaza. The statement runs as under:
“With all the force at our command, we condemn the Israeli aggression against the people of Gaza Strip since 14 November and we laud and commend the brave resistance by the people of Gaza Strip and their defenders. We note that Israel is a habitual breaker of truce whenever it suits it. Even in the latest episode, the fighting started with the treacherous Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader Ahmad Jabri who at the time was actively working on a long-term truce with Israel and had just received a draft agreement of the same hours before he was brutally murdered by the Israeli aircraft along with his bodyguard.
“We believe that Israel has not learned the lessons of its past crimes and has not learnt that the world around it his drastically changed during these past two years. It can no longer attack its hapless victims with impunity. Instead, it will now have to pay a price for every such aggression.
“We appeal to the Arab and Muslim World to come forward to help the people of Gaza in all possible ways including help to resist the aggression. We also appeal to our own government here in India to come out of its cocoon and, being a moral leader of the Third World and Non-Aligned Movement, raise a strong voice against the Israeli aggression and bullying in the Middle East and urge it forcefully to give Palestinians their rights, withdraw from their occupied lands and arrive at a peace acceptable to its victims.
“We take this opportunity to declare our full and unconditional support to our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and laud their brave resistance against the aggression of the Israeli oppressors.”