Green flags over Gaza: Hamas, an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded in 1987 as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Image: Ashraf Amra/Laif
Hamas’ genocidal hatred of Jews is explained by the history of Islamic anti-Semitism. Anyone who wants to understand the terrorist organization’s conspiratorial paranoia need only read the founding letter. A guest post.
The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 is the worst massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. The brutality of the crime may have shocked many observers, but those familiar with the ideology of the perpetrators would hardly have been surprised. This latest outbreak of violence is the logical result of the hatred of Jews that Hamas has preached openly since 1988 and of the Islamic anti-Semitism that emerged in the early 20th century and fueled the Palestine War of 1948. The ideology of the Hamas leadership is the product of the disastrous fusion of Nazism and Islam in the 1930s and 1940s. Hamas has never recognized the legitimacy of a Jewish state – or of any political order that is not explicitly Islamic – in the territory of the former British Mandate of Palestine.
The October 7 attack is reminiscent of previous terrorist attacks aimed at sabotaging diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the long-running conflict. But the latest operation – the murder of young visitors to a rave festival, the execution of entire families in their homes, the kidnapping of hostages – shows in its brutality how much hatred of Jews clouds the minds of terrorists. Short-term political considerations may explain the timing of individual attacks, but the genocidal racism that underlies Hamas’ long-term goals can only be understood through the history of Islamic anti-Semitism.