Hamas sought to expedite the establishment of a Palestinian state through its violent attacks. Despite the heinous nature of these acts, regrettably, they serve as a rallying point for both supporters and opponents of Israel worldwide. As a result, the potential establishment of a state following these terrorist actions would serve to elevate Hamas’s standing among the Palestinian people, the Arab world, and the global Islamic community. This supports the notion that employing terror by Islamic movements is considered a productive method for oppressed populations, whether they are Islamist Hezbollah followers or Sunni Muslim Brotherhood members. In this context, Israel is perceived merely as an experiment, akin to the “Twin Towers disaster” in the United States. Therefore, success against Israel would potentially translate into acts of terror in Western countries.
It is crucial to note that by highlighting allegations of oppression, discrimination, and marginalization from public space, members of Islamic movements successfully garner support from diverse populations worldwide, as expressed in South Africa’s backing of Hamas (encouraged through financial support from Iran).
Since the establishment of a Palestinian state aligns with Hamas’s interests, Israel must do everything to prevent Hamas from embedding itself in Palestinian governance and preventing a state’s establishment in any form.
“The Jews control the world”
Prominent sections of the Hamas Charter express anti-Semitism, blaming Jews for the world’s troubles. This serves as an additional link between Hamas and anti-Semitic organizations worldwide.
For example, the charter claims: “Regarding local and global wars, one can speak openly without embarrassment. Indeed, they (the Jews) were behind World War I, where they managed to eliminate the Islamic Caliphate [meaning the Ottoman Empire]. They gained material profits and controlled many sources of wealth. They [also] orchestrated the Balfour Declaration and established the United Nations and the Security Council to dominate the world through them. They [also] were behind World War II, from which they reaped immense profits from the trade in war materials and prepared the ground for the establishment of their state. They ordered the formation of the United Nations and the Security Council to control the world through them. No war takes place anywhere without their hands being behind it, [as mentioned in the Quran:] ‘Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They seek to spread corruption in the land, but Allah does not like corruptors.’ (From Surah Al-Ma’idah).
The Quran itself provides ideological material for anti-Semites, and Hamas, of course, quotes it: “You (meaning the Arabs) are the best nation ever raised up for mankind: you affirm the good and forbid the evil, and you believe in Allah. Had the People of the Book (the Jews) believed (in the Quran), it would have been better for them. Some of them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient. They can do no harm to you except a trifling annoyance, and if they fight against you, they will show you their backs, and they will not be helped. Humiliation is imposed upon them wherever they are found unless they cling to a covenant with Allah and a covenant with men, and they have drawn upon themselves wrath from Allah, and destitution is imposed upon them. That is because they disbelieved in the signs of Allah and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed and transgressed.” (Surah Al-Imran, verses 110-112). And the Shiite Imam Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, explains that “Israel will rise and continue to exist until Islam wipes it out, just as it wiped out what preceded it.”
The movement’s manifesto expresses these fundamental principles: “Allah is its [the movement’s] goal, the Prophet is the exemplary figure, the Quran is its constitution, Jihad is its path, and dying for the sake of Allah is its highest aspiration” – thus, the movement promotes death for the sake of the goal, the destruction of Israel, as an exalted value.
The Islamic Resistance Movement looks forward to fulfilling Allah’s promise as articulated in the Hadith (a text of Islamic law) in a well-known verse: “The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them. The Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will say: ‘O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'” In this narrative, even inanimate nature is recruited for the Creator’s purpose – to destroy the Jews (who are themselves created by Him…).
Palestinian Authority’s support for the October 7th Massacre
The problem for Israel is that this belief is not limited only to the Hamas movement. Under the guidance of the Palestinian Authority, immediately after the October 7th massacre, a religious fatwa (decree) was emphasized, obligating the killing of Jews. Recall that the “Palestinian Covenant” is not different in essence from the Hamas Covenant, but it was officially annulled within the framework of the Oslo Accords. However, the perception of the Authority, as it is practically expressed, aligns with the words of Hassan al-Banna, indicating that the end of Israel will come in a war against Islam. Significantly, the Palestinian Authority highlights the “Dome of the Rock,” the place where, according to certain beliefs, the exchange between Judaism and Islam took place, confirming God’s preference of Muslims over Jews.
For example, Article 2 in the Palestinian Covenant states that “Palestine, within its borders as they were during the British Mandate, is an integral territorial unit” – not a state in the 1967 borders. They seek to liberate all of Palestine from the river to the sea, as their supporters proclaim in protests worldwide.
Article 3 asserts that “the Arab Palestinian people have the legal right to their homeland, and they will define themselves after the liberation of their homeland according to their will and only according to their will and choice.” In other words, even if it is not really a “people” but a collection of tribes and families without a true common denominator, these fissures are irrelevant to the goal of destroying Israel.
Article 4 declares the “eternal right of return” – “Palestinian identity is an inherent, enduring characteristic that does not fade, passing from fathers to sons; Zionist occupation and dispersal of the Arab Palestinian people as a result of the calamities that befell it do not affect its Palestinian identity and affiliation.”
Article 19: “The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of Israel are null and void, as they oppose the will of the Arab Palestinian people and its natural right to its homeland, and because they contradict the principles included in the United Nations Charter, including the right to self-determination.”
Article 20: “The Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate document and what resulted from them are considered null and void. Claims of historical or spiritual connection of the Jews to Palestine do not align with the truths of history or with the components of the true meaning of a state. Judaism, as a divine religion, is not a national entity with its own existence, and Jews are citizens in the countries where they reside.”
Article 21: “In expressing itself in the proud Palestinian revolution, the Palestinian people reject all solutions that are a substitute for the complete liberation of Palestine, and reject all plans whose goal is the elimination of the Palestinian issue or under its auspices.”
The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas or Abu Mazen, consistently calls on Arab League countries to assist the Palestinians in filing a lawsuit against Britain for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of a national home for the Jews and, according to him, led directly to the Nakba in 1948.
The absolute Palestinian opposition to the Jewish identity of the State of Israel stands behind the rejection of any real peace proposals by Israeli governments throughout the years. Formulas like “Two states for two peoples – Jewish and Palestinian” were never accepted by them, as they identify Israel as the national state of the Jewish people. The formula “land for peace” does not satisfy them either, as it refers only to the 1967 borders, while the basis of the Palestinian claim is the “right of return” to territories within the Green Line. This perception of the right of return stood as the basis of the Hamas murderous attack on October 7th and was behind the earlier March of Return protests at the border fence.
The political stance of the Palestinian Authority and the National Liberation Movement was reflected at the end of the speech by Abu Mazen on the 74th anniversary of the Nakba in May 2022, a year and a half before October 7th, 2023. In his speech, Abu Mazen raised a toast to the martyrs and “heroic prisoners” and pledged to work to release them all from Israeli prisons and to continue assisting the families of the martyrs and prisoners, whom the Palestinian Authority supports with hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
Hamas and the Nazi-inspired ideology: The end of the Jews
The book “The End of the Jews” by Hamas, edited by the former Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, who was recently detained in the Gaza Strip and served in its educational systems, proves that Hamas and its allies believe that the Jews are destined for extinction by Islam.
Israel’s steadfastness against the Western world in achieving absolute victory in Gaza, akin to the defeat of ISIS by the global coalition, aims to counter the misguided perception that appeasing the Islamist axis and easing the bitter pill for it can be achieved through concessions on territories, uprooting populations like in the evacuation of Gush Katif, paying Jizya – a hefty sum to Hamas, and so on.
Therefore, the Israeli emergency government understands that this is an existential war – a war against forces that seek its destruction, not any formula for coexistence.
The fact that the IDF dismantled the mourning tent opened in Hebron for the family of the terrorist from the Rame Junction, Fadi Jumaa, and immediately sealed his house in the Shuafat refugee camp, indicates that Israel has awakened to the required understanding that there is no possibility of reaching an agreement with terrorist organizations.
According to the prophecies in the Quran, specifically in Surah Bani Isra’il (17:104), Allah will gather the dispersed of Israel in the land of Asham in the end times – Asham being the greater Syria, including the province of Palestine – Jund Filastin (which only touched its central part, the land of Israel): “And We said to the Children of Israel afterward, ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the promise of the Hereafter comes, We will bring you in [one] gathering.'” Meaning, the Jews will gather in the land of Israel and witness the fulfillment of end-time prophecies.
The Ayatollahs in Iran and leaders like Youssef al-Qaradawi and Sayyid Qutb believe that the process of the Jews’ gathering in the land of Israel **is intended for their annihilation**.
Therefore, Israel’s vision of redemption – the ingathering of Jews from all corners of the world to the promised land for the Jewish people, is interpreted as the beginning of the fulfillment of the Islamic prophecy, where with Israel’s gathering, they are being prepared for their destruction, similar to the Nazi ideology.
Expulsion of Jews from Gaza in the First World War
Recollect that the renewed Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, also known by Jews as “Palestine,” preceded the Zionist Congress (Basel, 1897), whose establishment was a result, not a cause. The Jews re-established settlements in Jaffa and later expanded beyond its walls into neighborhoods such as Neve Tzedek, Shechunat Shlomo, and Ahuzat Bayit, which later became Tel Aviv.
Simultaneously, foundational lands were acquired in Emek Hama’aleh, Mishmar Hayarden, Rosh Pina, Meron, and Ein Zeitim by the Avu family from Safed. In Jerusalem, the Jewish population expanded beyond the city walls with the assistance of Moses Montefiore, and settlements were established by the early Zionist immigrants and Baron Rothschild. Following the initiation of this renewed settlement, and after the First Zionist Congress, the NILI spy network was formed to assist the British in conquering the land from the Ottoman Empire. The culmination of this process occurred with the Balfour Declaration (1917), proclaiming the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and granting Britain the mandate to implement this goal. The Jewish population in the Land of Israel grew steadily until the Declaration of Independence, reaching several hundred thousand people. The Jewish settlement expanded not only in numbers but also geographically, and today there are no regions without Jewish settlement, except Gaza and northern Samaria, from which Jews were evacuated due to Arab terror.
Disputing the common perception of terror
Here, Israel finds itself at a historical crossroads. Israel cannot live alongside the Hamas perspective, but neither can it coexist with the de facto worldview of the Palestinian Authority. Gaza will need to operate under municipal – not national – control only. Therefore, Israel must organize control over central hubs in the vital areas, with Palestinian residents allowed only in these areas.
At the end of the “Iron Swords” war, Israel needs to have complete control over everything entering and leaving the Gaza Strip. The import system and the Philadelphia corridor must be under full Israeli control. According to Colonel Yossi Shabu, who served as the head of the Civil Administration in Gaza and later as the commander of the government unit at the beginning of the Six-Day War: “He who wants to control the population must be the one providing them with bread to eat and water to drink. Israel needs to secure the strip with a security posture, and, in my opinion, it should return and settle it. Why?
Because this move negates mistaken perceptions that Islam can be controlled globally through terror. In practice, the settlement initiative challenges the perception of terror against Israel and the Jews in general, prevalent in Islamic movements and their followers, by demonstrating that Jews can live without subjugation and humiliation, despite rejecting the acceptance of Islam’s prophet as their own.”
