Hamas and Hizballah - The Peace FAQ

Hamas and Hizballah

Frequently Asked Questions:

● The existence of Hamas and their suicide bombers must reflect the
tremendous rage the Arabs must feel toward their Israeli
oppressors...?
● These organizations are anti-Zionist - for sure - but why do you
imply that they are also antisemitic?
● Aren't Hamas and Hizballah primarily social and humanitarian
organizations?
● Isn't Arafat and the PA opposed to Hamas? Doesn't the PA work with
Israel to prevent their terrorism and arrest them as has been
agreed?

The existence of Hamas and their suicide bombers must reflect

the tremendous rage the Arabs must feel toward their Israeli
oppressors...?

● What is most important to understand here is that "to die for the
sake of God" is, above all, not to die at all. By dying in the "divinely
commanded" act of killing Jews (Jews, not Israelis), the Hamas
terrorist actually seeks to conquer death (which he fears with special
terror) by living forever. In this eternal life, Hamas videotapes
reveal, there will be rivers of honey and 72 brides for each hero
"martyred" fighting the enemies of God.

Hence, the "love of death" described by the Hamas nonstate enemy

of Israel is the ironic consequent of an all-consuming wish to avoid
death. Since the death that this enemy "loves" is merely temporary
and temporal, leading in "fact" to a permanent reprieve from death,
accepting it as a tactical expedient is an easy matter. If, however,
the death of the individual Muslim body in holy war against the Jew
were not expected to ensure authentic life ever-after, its immense
attractions would surely be reversed.

- Louis Rene Beres

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Hamas and Hizballah - The Peace FAQ

Professor of International Law

Department of Political Science
Purdue University

These organizations are anti-Zionist - for sure - but why do you

imply that they are also antisemitic?

● Just how fully integrated anti-Jewishness and anti-Judaism are in the

Islamist struggle against Israel can be best learned from the ideology
of the Islamic Resistance Movement -- the HAMAS. By its own
definition, the HAMAS is a Palestinian Islamist movement fighting for
the liberation of the entire Palestine, the destruction of Israel and the
establishment of an Islamic State in its stead. However, starting with
its most basic ideological literature, most notably the HAMAS'
Covenant of August 1988, the organization stresses that its actual
struggle is global and as much against the Jews as against Israel or
its Zionist inhabitants.

- from ISLAMIC ANTI-SEMITISM AS A POLITICAL INSTRUMENT, by

Yossef Bodansky, in The Maccabean Online, January, 1998

● Selections from Anti-Semitic Motifs in the Ideology of Hizballah and

Hamas
by Esther Webman, Tel-Aviv University, 1994

Anti-Semitism as a corollary of anti-Zionism: a basic tenet of

Hizballah ideology as reflected in the Hizballah press

Hizballah is completely opposed to Jews and Judaism and stresses

the eternal conflict between them and Islam, although it also cites
the more tolerant aspects of Islam toward the Jews. The movement
calls to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism, but at the same
time reinforces its anti-Zionism by reviving the ancient Islamic
enmity toward the Jews, revealing that essentially there is no
separation between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

Hizballah's total negation of Israel's existence is, on the face of it, a

natural extension of its negation of the West, especially the US,
inasmuch as Israel is perceived as a tool to realize American
interests in the region. However, this negation based on Islamic
precepts portraying Judaism as the oldest and bitterest adversary of
Islam and intertwined with anti-Semitic motifs, taken mainly from
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeyni's preaching and rhetoric, turns into a
basic tenet in the movement's general Islamic plan. It appears,

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therefore, that the line distinguishing between anti-Zionism - the de-

legitimization of Israel's right to exist - and anti-Semitism - a
primordial hatred of the Jews is becoming increasingly difficult to
define.

.Hizballah spokesmen interchange the terms Zionism and Judaism,

and Zionists and Jews, freely. In an interview, Husayn Fadlallah, the
most senior religious authority of Hizballah, [uses] Qur'anic
references to the corrupt, treacherous and aggressive nature of the
Jews. "We find in the Qu'ran that the Jews are the most aggressive
towards the Muslims, not because they are Jews or because they
believe in the Torah but because of their aggressive resistance to the
unity of the faith. They reached an agreement with the idolaters to
fight the prophet Muhammad, Fadlallah asserted; they are known as
the killers of the prophets; they spread corruption on earth; and they
oppress other peoples." The idea that those most hostile to the
faithful are the Jews and the idolaters is a theme which appears
repeatedly"

Fadlallah and other Hizballah spokesmen do not see any

contradiction in presenting Islamic sources as displaying tolerance
toward the Jews, on the one hand, and as exposing the Jews'
wickedness, on the other. These same sources, according to
Hizballah ideologists, also provide the reasoning behind, and the
motivation for, the irreconcilable struggle between Islam and
Judaism, which is viewed as the struggle between truth and
falsehood, and good and evil. The Hizballah fighters wage war on
Israel out of religious belief and conviction, "just as they pray and
fast--it's God's order to them."

Israel is a state that emerged in the heart of the Arab nation in order
to revive "the Jewish persona" through Zionist racism in
confrontation with all Muslims. "Either we destroy Israel or Israel
destroys us." A further dimension is added to the abiding enmity
between Islam and Judaism in the utilization of Western anti-Semitic
images and perceptions of Jews. "The Jews are the enemy of the
entire human race." "Zionism dictates the world and dominates it."
"The Jews constitute a financial power ... They use funds to dominate
the Egyptian media and infect its society with AIDS." "The Torah
inspires the Jews to kill."

[...]

THE HAMAS IDEOLOGY

In November 1988, Hamas published a covenant which was an

attempt to systematically present the movement's ideology, in

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contrast to the PLO covenant. It presents the Arab-Israeli conflict as

the epitome of an inherently irreconcilable struggle between Jews
and Muslims, and Judaism and Islam. It is not a national or territorial
conflict but a historical, religious, cultural and existential conflict
between "truth and falsehood," the believers and the infidels, in
which one side will eventually be the victor. The only way to confront
this struggle is through Islam and by means of jihad (holy war), until
victory or martyrdom. "The time will not come until Muslims will fight
the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees,
which will cry: Oh Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on
and kill him!? This ideology is represented in the movement's
emblem, which shows the Qur'an and a sword. Reflecting this point
of view, the Hamas leaflets were the most vociferous of all leaflets
distributed by the Palestinian organizations during the Intifada and
contained the most extreme anti-Semitic statements against Jews,
Israelis and Zionists.

The terminology used against the Jews in the leaflets is a mixture of

Western anti-Semitic and Islamic rhetoric. Some of the anti-Semitic
expressions appearing repeatedly in the leaflets are:

"The brothers of the apes, the killers of the Prophets, blood suckers,
warmongers," "barbaric," "cowards," "cancer expanding in the land
of Isra' [reference to Palestine which was the destination of
Muhammad's night journeyl and Mi'raj [Muhammad's ascent to
heaven] threatening the entire Islamic world," "a conceited and
arrogant people," "the enemy of God and mankind," "the
descendants of treachery and deceit,", Nazis," "spreading corruption
in the land of Islam," "the Zionist culprits who poisoned the water in
the past, killed infants, women and elders," "thieves, monopolists,
usurers."

Verses from the Qur'an and the hadith (the traditions associated with
Muhammad passed down by his companions) were used often to
reinforce the negative image of the Jews, and terminology with
Islamic connotations was dominant. The leaflets usually began with
the religious invocation: "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the
Compa.ssionate." Almost every leaflet contained a Qur'anic verse
either as a heading or as a conclusion, emphasizing a certain feature
inherent to the Jews, is instigating war. For example: "Oh believers!
take not the Jews or the Christians as friends." "So make war on
them: By your hand will God chastise them, and will put them to
shame, and will give you victory over them, and will heal the bosoms
of a people who believe."

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Aren't Hamas and Hizballah primarily social and humanitarian

organizations?

● HAMAS was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian

branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various elements of HAMAS have
used both political and violent means, including terrorism, to pursue
the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel.
HAMAS is loosely structured, with some elements working openly
through mosques and social service institutions to recruit members,
raise money, organize activities, and distribute propaganda. Militant
elements of HAMAS, operating clandestinely, have advocated and
used violence to advance their goals. HAMAS's strength is
concentrated in the Gaza Strip and in a few areas of the West Bank.
It also has engaged in peaceful political activity, such as running
candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections.

HIZBALLAH is a radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated to

creation of Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of
all non-Islamic influences from area. Strongly anti-Western and anti-
Israeli. Closely allied with, and often directed by Iran, but may have
conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran. Known or
suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US terrorist
attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the US Embassy and
US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the US Embassy
Annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were
responsible for the kidnapping and detention of US and other
Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the Israeli
Embassy in Argentina in 1992.

Source: U.S. Department of State. Office of the Coordinator for

Counterterrorism. 1998. Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1997.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State. April. pgs. 53-79.

Isn't Arafat and the PA opposed to Hamas? Doesn't the PA work

with Israel to prevent their terrorism and arrest them as has been
agreed?

● The following is an excerpt of a September 24, 1998 interview with

Muhammad Dahlan, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security
Service in Gaza, which was conducted by the official Palestinian
Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda.

"Question: The Preventive Security Service has been criticized for not
accepting into its ranks people who are not members of Fatah.

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Dahlan: That is not correct. We have enlisted into the ranks of the
Preventive Security Service many of our brothers active in other
organizations opposed to the agreement and I have considered this
to be a personal goal Matters reached the point where we engaged in
a huge political battle with the Americans and the Israelis over the
enlistment of some 25 members of the Hamas military wing, which
was done as part of our overall responsibility toward all members of
the Palestinian people. Israel accuses them of being the hard-core
military infrastructure of the Izz a-Din Al-Kassam brigades [the
Hamas terror cells]. We arrested them in the past for various
security-related matters, but we saw no reason to continue to detain
them. Since the Israeli Prime Minister contested the matter, we
made a historic, national decision to protect them. We said very
clearly to the Israelis that an attack on any of them
would be an attack on the entire Palestinian Preventive Security
Service. Thus, we protected them and gave them the opportunity for
an honorable life."

● ARAFAT CONTRIBUTES TO HAMAS MOSQUE

Yasser Arafat has donated $100,000 Dollars for the building of a new
mosque dedicated to Iz A-Din el Kassam, the infamous Arab terrorist
after whom Hamas terrroist cells have named themselves. El-Kassam
was killed during the Arab riots of 1936-1939. During the mosque
dedication last week, a representative from the PA's office of Holy
Sites, Sheikh Salame thanked Arafat for his generous financial
support. "This shows President Arafat's commitment to remembering
those who defend this land." said the Sheikh. Arutz 7 correspondent
Haggai Huberman reports that the new mosque was built in Kfar
Yamon, south of Jenin.

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