No, Hamas are not good guys. No, Hamas are not innocent of desiring and working towards ethnic cleansing of Israel. No, this does not justify Israel's ongoing genocide.
"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, and their uprooting from it, Allah willing. This is within sight. Four years, my brothers... By 2022, we will be rid of them... The second thing is the establishment of the Caliphate, after the nation has been healed of its cancer – the Jews – Allah willing...
"It is unacceptable that the Jews control some of the Arab states – their regimes, their armies, and their security agencies – while the peoples remain oppressed. Oh peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation, oh Palestinian people, you possess a concealed power that you can detonate in the faces of the Jews and the hypocrites. We expect another Arab Spring from you, with new characteristics – a second Arab Spring, which will focus on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Allah willing. We are your embers and your fuel, Allah willing."
Fathi Hamad, high ranking member of Hamas's political bureau, 2018
"There was a series of 120 deportations of Jews from Europe. This was because they betrayed the people among whom they lived, and worked against the interests of the societies that sheltered them. They betrayed those societies, in which they lived as spies. For example, they spied against the Persians for the Byzantines. These [Jewish] groups corrupted the societies in which they lived through usury, the worship of money, extreme miserliness, and bribery. Those nations considered them to be anti-Christian. The [Jews] lived in Europe according to the principle of rejection of non-Jews, whom they call Gentiles. They embraced the notion of the Jews being the victims throughout history, in order to take over Palestine."
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, one of the founders of Hamas,, 2017
“[R]emoving the Jews from the land they occupied in 1948 is an immutable principle because it appears in the Book of Allah.”
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, one of the founders of Hamas,, 2018
"If we look back at history, we see that [the Jews] were abhorred in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. This is also true of the times of the Assyrians, the Romans, and the Prophet Muhammad. They betrayed him. They were treacherous against him, and he expelled them from the Arabian Peninsula. Even Hitler hated them, loathed them, and got rid of them. However, everything people say about massacres and Holocaust – these are all lies. Hitler may have hated them, but it was because of their deeds and crimes. Hitler was no less of a criminal than them."
Marwan Abu Ras, Hamas MP, 2019
"Those [cowards] who quake with fear, those who cooperate and collaborate [with Israel], those who normalize relations with the occupation will be gathered with the apes and pigs in the Hellfire. Do you know who the apes and pigs are? They are the Jews who Allah transformed into apes and pigs."
Ismail Radwan, Hamas Minister of Religious Endowments, 2018
“Over is the time Hamas spent discussing recognizing Israel. Now Hamas will discuss when we will wipe out Israel,”
Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip
When Sinwar would tell him [Ehud Yaari, a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who interviewed Sinwar in prison four times] Israel must be destroyed and insist there was no place for Jewish people in Palestine, "he would joke, 'Maybe we'll make an exception of you'".
“We cannot, in exchange for money or projects, give up Palestine and our weapons. We will not give up the resistance... We will not recognize Israel, Palestine must stretch from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.”
Ismail Haniyeh, current leader/chairman of Hamas, in 2020
“[Allah] transformed them into filthy, ugly animals like apes and pigs because of the injustice and evil they had brought about.” Al-Regeb also prayed for the ability to “get to the necks of the Jews.”
Hamad Al-Regeb, an official Sheikh (elder official) of Hamas, 2023
“Therefore, we are convinced that if a total conflict begins, the airspace and seaports of this entity will be shut down, and they will not be able to live without electricity, water, and communications.”
Saleh Al-Arouri, now-deceased Deputy Chairman of Hamas, 2023
While you are right, it is important to consider that Hamas has very low support in the population of Palestine, similar to Netanjahu and his fascist government having rather little support in the Israeli population.
The corrupt and criminal leaderships of both countries are fighting a war for their own advantage and civilians on both sides (though ~20x Palestinians than Israelis) are dieing for a war they just want to end.
I think from polling data the majority of Israelis support the war with pallestine/Netanyahu. And similarly the majority of Palestinians support Hamas and violence against Israel
That’s what makes this so difficult. If Hamas had no support it would probably be easier to deal with them
Netanyahu has become very unpopular since Oct 7, and the Israeli media has been involved in a borderline criminal level of self-censorship about the war.
Hamas does have widespread support, but at least some of that is because they're the only game in town in Gaza, short of embracing genocide. Admittedly, because Hamas has put great effort into making sure they're the only major player allowed to operate in Gaza.
Hamas doesn’t have widespread support. They pretended to be a reformed, moderate, responsible party who no longer wanted to be seen as the extremists that they used to be. Because of this, they won a very slim plurality in the 2006 election and then indefinitely postponed the following election. I don’t think I’m alone in assuming that quite a bit of what support they do have from the Palestinian people is from either implicit or explicit coercion. Otherwise, support is likely from Hamas daring to retaliate against Israel for mistreatment up to murder of innocent Palestinian civilians over the decades.
Hamas fucking sucks. They just happen to be the only leadership left for the Palestinian people because Hamas has tricked the people into giving them power and they’ve had a death grip on it ever since, preferring to let Palestine get wiped off the map rather than lose that power.
Hamas doesn’t have widespread support. They pretended to be a reformed, moderate, responsible party who no longer wanted to be seen as the extremists that they used to be. Because of this, they won a very slim plurality in the 2006 election and then indefinitely postponed the following election.
Hamas does have widespread support. Maybe not majority, but widespread. They were definitely not pretending to be a reformed, moderate party in 2006. Elections have been repeatedly cancelled not just because Hamas are anti-democratic shitheads (though they are) but also because the PA realizes that there is a good chance that the moderate parties (and I use the term loosely) won't win the election.
Otherwise, support is likely from Hamas daring to retaliate against Israel for mistreatment up to murder of innocent Palestinian civilians over the decades.
Like I said, at least some of the support is because they're the only game in town in Gaza, short of embracing genocide. I agree here.
Otherwise, support is likely from Hamas daring to retaliate against Israel for mistreatment up to murder of innocent Palestinian civilians over the decades.
In a nutshell, that’s how lots of Palestinian leftists and progressives view it. They don’t like any Hamas beliefs or tactics, except for the one where they stand up to colonization.
All in all, Hamas is the ugly bastard child of Israel and a Palestinian faction that sought division instead of coming together with the other freedom fighters. They wanted separation, the Israelis liked the idea and supported them in doing so. How will this tale end? I think with a new faction born from the orphans of Gaza, and hopefully an armed resistance group with less questionable tactics and less anti-semetism.
How will this tale end? I think with a new faction born from the orphans of Gaza, and hopefully an armed resistance group with less questionable tactics and less anti-semetism.
It might just repeat the Fatah-Hamas split - an armed resistance group with more questionable tactics and more antisemitism.
We’ll have to wait and see 🤷♀️. Apartheid breeds violence which breeds violence, but for me the best solution is for Israel to take responsibility for what they are doing. Less apartheid will mean less violence and antisemitism, and less extremism.
Yeah. I just don't have faith that Israel will choose less apartheid. I hope they prove me wrong, but they certainly won't as long as Netanyahu is in power.
But you’re still happy putting all the blame on Israelis (and not the Arab ones, just the Jewish ones). All because you Westerners decided that you’ve had enough of hating Arabs and now want to protect them. I still remember 2001 though, and all the hate you guys spewed, so I’m not buying it. I still remember all the western citizens calling for the destruction of Palestine when it became known that they were against your war on terror.
But now your corporate news sources are telling you it’s time to love the Arabs and hate Israel, so y’all are all in.
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