Warning: this article contains certain graphic content that might disturb some readers.
The recent global support for Palestinians has led some to believe Hamas is a resistance group dedicated to liberating Palestinians.
People around the world are gathering in support of Hamas, passionately chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” because they view Hamas as the champion of freedom and justice, staunchly defending the Palestinian people against Israel.
But is this true?
Who is Hamas?
Hamas is the English transliteration of the Arabic acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, which means “Islamic Resistance Movement.” It came out of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1988. While Hamas calls itself a “resistance movement,” the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the United Kingdom recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization.[1]
Hamas flag at a rally in Istanbul (Source: Kimdime/Wikimedia Commons).
Hamas’ charter explicitly states: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”[2] Hamas’ expressed goal is to destroy Israel, replace it with an Islamic Palestinian state,[3] and eliminate all Jewish people.[4]
Hamas’ first major act of terror against Israel occurred on April 6, 1994, when they attacked Israeli civilians with a suicide car bombing next to a bus picking up students.[5] It killed eight people, including teenagers and Arab Israelis, and injured 44 others.[6] Hamas has continued to target Israeli civilians in the years following, including firing thousands of rockets at civilians in Israel since 2000.[7]
Hamas fired many of these rockets from Gaza, where Hamas has its base of operations. In 2005, in response to years of brutal attacks in Gaza, the Israeli military forcibly removed all Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip. In 2006, the people of Gaza voted Hamas into power. Then, in 2007, Hamas violently purged the rival party, Fatah, out of Gaza. Thus, the governance of the Gaza Strip has been under the control of Hamas since 2007. There has not been another election in Gaza since Hamas came to power.
One of the Worst Days in Jewish History
On October 7, 2023, many Jewish people in Israel attended synagogue to celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah, called Simchat Torah (“the Joy of the Torah”). Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel’s civilians from Gaza. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 people, marking the highest number of Jewish people killed in a single day since the Holocaust. Hamas infiltrated more than thirty communities, murdering most and taking others hostage, many from their homes. Hamas kidnapped more than 220 men, women, and children, including Holocaust survivors.
(Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO.)
They raped women, committed horrible sexual acts of vile evil and genital mutilation, burned entire families alive, and paraded the bodies of dead Jewish people in the streets of Gaza. Hamas shot, burned,[8] and beheaded babies.[9] One Hamas terrorist even admitted Hamas abducted babies to rape them.[10] Hamas tortured children; they tied them up and burned them to death, leaving their bodies in piles.[11] Former chief rabbi of the Israeli Defense Forces, Israel Weiss, working to identify the bodies Hamas slaughtered, reports his horrible experience:
I cannot describe to you in words what it is like to see a pregnant woman who has had her stomach cut open and the baby pulled out. . . . I only knew something like that from the Nazis. . . . We found bodies of elderly civilians. They had all their fingers and toes cut off.[12]
Hamas is not a resistance group; they are terrorists. One significant difference between the Nazis and Hamas is the Nazis concealed their atrocities from the world—a subtle recognition of knowing their deeds were evil (or at least would be perceived as evil). Hamas, on the other hand, records and broadcasts their acts of terrorism against Jewish people for the world to see.
Why Does Hamas Commit These Acts of Terrorism against Jewish People?
The answer is found in their charter. Article Seven states:
The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation [sic] of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems [sic] fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems [sic], O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).[13]
Although there are many peaceful Muslims in the world, Hamas’ hatred of Jewish people is rooted in Muhammad’s instruction to kill Jewish people. Article Eight states, “Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.”[14] For Hamas, politics and religion are intertwined, with their ultimate goal being the destruction of Jewish people.
Former Hamas Minister of Culture ’Atallah Abu al-Subh (Source: MEMRI TV).
In his message on April 8, 2011, former Hamas minister of culture, Atallah Abu Al-Subh asserted, “The Jews are the most despicable and contemptible nation to crawl upon the face of the Earth, because they have displayed hostility to Allah.”[15] On July 12, 2018, Senior Hamas Official Fathi Hammad declared the following on Qatar’s Al Jazeera network and Gaza’s Al-Aqsa TV:
On this day, as we are witnessing all that is happening with the grace of Allah, we are looking forward to two important things, which are within sight: The first is the cleansing of Palestine of the filth of the Jews. . . . The second thing is the establishment of the Caliphate, after the nation has been healed of its cancer—the Jews—Allah willing.[16]
On April 7, 2023, Hamas official Sheikh Dr. Hamad Al-Regeb expressed,
(Allah) transformed them [the Jews] into filthy, ugly animals like apes and pigs. . . . Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon the Jews. Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon the Jews. Paralyze them, destroy their entity, tear them apart, bring upon them a terrible punishment. Oh Allah, enable us to get to the necks of the Jews. Oh Allah, enable us to get to the necks of the Jews. Oh Allah, enable us to get to the necks of the Jews.[17]
Hamas’s goal is encapsulated in the words of one Hamas-affiliated imam, who said the following words in his message on July 24, 2014, “Our doctrine in fighting you (the Jews) is that we will totally exterminate you. We will not leave a single one of you alive.”[18] Hamas is not a resistance group fighting for the freedom of Palestinians. It is a terrorist organization, which abducts and murders men, women, children, teenagers, and the elderly; destroys families; rapes women; and cuts the heads off of babies.
What Should We Do?
Jewish people are enduring unspeakable atrocities while Hamas actively disseminates its hatred of Jewish people worldwide, attempting to garner sympathy and support for its actions by presenting lies behind their cause and falsely claiming they intend to liberate Palestinians from Israel.
We should counter this by standing in solidarity with Jewish people and advocating for Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself. Spread the truth about Hamas on social media and in person. Attend peaceful pro-Israel rallies and pray for Israel. Denounce any acts of antisemitism and speak out against hatred of Jewish people. If you are not Jewish, be there for your Jewish friends during this time when hatred of Jewish people is spreading.
Pro-Israel rally in Los Angeles (Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash).
You can also support organizations like Chosen People Ministries, serving and ministering to the Jewish community in the United States and eighteen other countries worldwide. You can sign a petition against antisemitism here and join the global movement.
If you are Jewish and have been a victim of antisemitism, we invite you to contact us at [email protected], as we would appreciate the opportunity to hear your story and pray with you.
Always remember Psalm 121:4, “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
Notes
Published on December 20, 2023.
Header photo source: Flickr/rainwiz.
[1] “Hamas,” Anti-Defamation League, October 10, 2023, https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/hamas.
[2] “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement,” The Avalon Project, August 8, 1988, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp.
[3] Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 9.
[4] See article 7 of Hamas’s charter discussed below.
[5] Levitt, Hamas, 12.
[6] Clyde Haberman, “Arab Car Bomber Kills 8 in Israel; 44 Are Wounded,” The New York Times, April 7, 1994, https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/07/world/arab-car-bomber-kills-8-in-israel-44-are-wounded.html.
[7] “Hamas.”
[8] Tovah Lazaroff, “Hamas Burned Israelis Alive in South, Netanyahu Says,” The Jerusalem Post, October 12, 2023, sec. Israel News, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767832.
[9] Tzvi Joffre, “Photos of Babies Being Burnt, Decapitated Confirmed,” The Jerusalem Post, October 12, 2023, sec. Israel News, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-767951.
[10] Interrogation footage available here: Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر, Twitter post, October 11, 2023, 5:24 a.m., https://twitter.com/emilykschrader/status/1712036369248186674.
[11] Stuart Ramsay, “Israel-Hamas War: Recovered Bodies Show ‘Bloodthirsty’ Gunmen ‘Took Time over Torture’ – and That Hamas Has Changed,” Sky News, October 16, 2023, sec. World, https://news.sky.com/story/israel-gaza-war-recovered-bodies-show-bloodthirsty-gunmen-took-time-over-torture-and-that-hamas-has-changed-12985212.
[12] Peter Wilke, “‘I Only Knew That from the Nazis’: Israeli Forensic Experts Identify Tortured and Burned Bodies,” POLITICO, October 15, 2023, sec. Hot Topics, https://www.politico.eu/article/i-only-knew-that-from-the-nazis-what-israeli-forensics-have-been-seeing-for-days/.
[13] “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”
[14] Ibid.
[15] Memri, “Former Hamas Minister of Culture ’Atallah Abu al-Subh: ‘The Jews Are the Most Despicable and Contemptible Nation to Crawl upon the Face of the Earth,’” MEMRI, April 8, 2011, https://www.memri.org/tv/former-hamas-minister-cultselecure-atallah-abu-al-subh-jews-are-most-despicable-and-contemptible.
[16] Memri, “Senior Hamas Official Fathi Hammad: We Will Cleanse Palestine of the Filth of the Jews, Heal the Nation of the Jewish Cancer; Netanyahu, Lieberman, We Are Coming to Chop off Your Heads!,” MEMRI, July 12, 2018, https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-political-bureau-member-fathi-hammad-at-gaza-rallies-cleanse-palestine-of-filth-cancer-of-the-jews.
[17] Memri, “Hamas Official Sheikh Hamad Al-Regeb Refers to Jews as ‘Brothers of Apes and Pigs’ During A Rafah Friday Sermon, Prays for Annihilation of Polytheists and Atheists, Adds: ‘Oh Allah, Enable Us to Get to the Necks of the Jews,’” MEMRI, April 7, 2023, https://www.memri.org/tv/rafah-gaza-friday-sermon-hamas-official-regeb-allah-necks-jews-annihilate-them.
[18] Memri, “Hamas Sermon from the Gaza Strip: Our Doctrine Entails Exterminating the Jews,” MEMRI, July 24, 2014, https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-sermon-gaza-strip-our-doctrine-entails-exterminating-jews.
