Group wants Israeli embassy in Kenya closed in protest over Gaza attacks

A group of local Muslim leaders has asked the government to close the Israeli embassy in Kenya as a sign of protest against the ongoing attacks in Gaza.

Supporters of Palestine gathered Friday at the Sir Ali Muslim Club to observe the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day and condemned the attacks by Israeli forces against the Palestinian city of Gaza.

Social Democratic Party chairman Mwandawiro Mghanga said Kenya should follow the example of Brazil and Ecuador and recall its envoy from Israel in protest.

“We want Kenya to close its embassy in Israel. We also want a Palestinian embassy opened in Kenya to show that we are supporting a nation whose innocent women and children are being killed indiscriminately,” he said.

Quds Day is marked by people of all faiths and ideologies all over the world, mostly in Islamic countries, on the last Friday of every Ramadhan as a day of solidarity with the Palestinians and other oppressed people around the globe.

Mr Mghanga commended the non-Muslim Kenyans who were bold enough to publicly show their support for Palestine and urged the Jubilee government to speak up against what is happening in Gaza.

“Kenya once suffered from colonialism and what is happening in Palestine is something we have experienced firsthand.

We should follow Nelson Mandela’s footsteps and speak against colonialism even in other countries,” he said.

Iranian ambassador to Kenya Malek Hossein, who also attended the event, said verbal condemnation against what was happening in Palestine was not enough and more needed to be done.

“The friends of Palestine must take immediate action and persecute the forces currently killing innocent people.

So far, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 have been wounded since the bombings began earlier this month,” he said.

Also in attendance was Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan who asked Kenyans to join hands with Palestinians as the two nations have both been victims of colonialism.

He added that global human rights groups were being hypocritical by keeping mum when innocent children were being bombed in Palestine.

Quds Day was first proclaimed by the late leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Ayatullah Ruhullah Khomeini, in 1979 and has been observed annually in Islamic nations since then.