Last Saturday thousands of people marched in cities across Europe to demand a halt to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip. In Paris, for instance, more than 20,000 demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves, marched through the city center chanting slogans such as “Israel murderer!” Expectedly, groups of protesters clashed with police, some cars were set alight and some others overturned by demonstrators, etc.
They seemed quite routine events, but they weren’t, at least not all of them, not what happened in Milan and in Bologna, Italy. In Milan the protesters, mostly young Arabs and Muslim families, had gathered in Porta Venezia, obviously waving banners and flags, and chanting slogans such as “Bush, Barak, assassins.” Normal. Ah, I forgot, they obviously set fire to some Israeli flags. Perfect. So what? What’s new? Well, the demonstration came to an interesting end when the protesters reached Piazza Duomo, in downtown Milan, and held a collective prayer session right in front of the cathedral. Even the parvis was occupied, so that the cathedral turned out to be closed.
What happened in Milan was very similar to what happened in Bologna at the same time: thousands of Muslims gathered right in front the Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna’s great cathedral, to hold an analogue collective prayer session.
Are the two events connected? What’s their real meaning? When asked in an interview with Il Resto del Carlino newspaper about the meaning of the event, Assistant bishop of Bologna monsignor Ernesto Vecchi, said:
This was a signal to ponder upon. This is not simply a prayer, this is a challenge more to our democratic and cultural system than to the basilica. […] From what happened in Bologna, but also in other cities, we received confirmation that here is a project piloted from the outside. What is it all about? What is it aimed at? They want to Islamize Europe.
This recalls a Friday Sermon by Hamas MP and cleric Yunis Al-Astal, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on April 11, 2008. A clip is available to paid subscribers of MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (via Paolo Guzzanti). Here are some excerpts from the address:
Allah has chosen you for Himself and for His religion, so that you will serve as the engine pulling this nation to the phase of succession, security, and consolidation of power, and even to conquests thorough da'wa and military conquests of the capitals of the entire world. Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam – this capital of theirs will be an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and even Eastern Europe.
I believe that our children or our grandchildren will inherit our Jihad and our sacrifices, and Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them. Today, we instill these good tidings in their souls, and by means of the mosques and the Koran books, and the history of our Prophets, his companions, and the great leaders, we prepare them for the mission of saving humanity from the hellfire on the brink of which they stand.
All the pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together. Don’t they?
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