ISIS’s Easter message: Set fire to synagogues, churches worldwide

The Islamic State (ISIS) has called on Muslims to carry out arson attacks against synagogues and churches across the United States, Europe and elsewhere over the Easter weekend in its weekly propaganda outlet Al-Naba.

The Islamist terror group framed the call as a response to Israel’s closing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, The New York Post reported on Thursday. In late February, Israeli authorities closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount to Muslim worshippers, citing security risks. On March 20, fragments from an interception of an Iranian missile fell near the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Meanwhile, due to the security situation and Israel’s Home Front Command guidelines, the public was not allowed to visit the Jewish holy site, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, during the Passover holiday.

“In the face of the tragedy of the closure of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, it is incumbent upon Muslims everywhere—those who yearn to come to the aid of the site of their Prophet’s Night Journey—to rise up and set fire to the Jewish synagogues scattered across America, Europe, Russia, India, and elsewhere,” ISIS declared.

“The same applies to the synagogues in Tunisia, Morocco, the UAE, and Syria; their locations are well-known, and their details have been published,” it said.

The ISIS paper also called for attacks on “Jewish gatherings” around the world, ordering its supporters to “emulate the actions of the ‘Sydney Heroes,'” referring to the Dec. 14 shooting attack at a Chanukah party at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 Jews dead and more than three dozen wounded.

ISIS also claimed to have caused 60 casualties in “15 operations” over the past week.