Egypt: Al-Azhar University praises Palestinian resistance against Israeli aggression 

Egypt’s famed Al-Azhar University has hailed the Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza who are confronting the ruthless Israeli aggression against them.

“The Palestinians are facing fire sent by [the Israeli occupation] terrorist army… stripped of all sense of morality and humanity, [which is carrying out] various brutal crimes, including bombing hospitals; destroying mosques and churches; and killing children, women, news reporters and innocent citizens,” said the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world on its official X account.

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Al-Azhar also praised UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his “courageous and chivalrous stance” calling for a halt to the aggression on Gaza. Guterres said last Tuesday during a Security Council meeting that, “It is important to also recognise that the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”

Guterres’s statement was met with a backlash from Israel, which accused him of justifying the Hamas operation on 7 October and demanded that he should resign. Al-Azhar pointed out that Guterres showed neither fear nor favouritism when speaking at the Security Council session.

The university has also praised the stances adopted by those “who did not remain silent” and condemned the brutal massacres committed by Israel in Gaza, including the killing of children and innocent people. It called on the Arab and Islamic governments to “harness their capabilities to support the Palestinian people” and “stop the oppression of this usurping entity [Israel].”

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