Being a murderer is fine; blowing up children is praiseworthy and raping Jewish women is a great way to fight. Even killing your own wife or sister under the correct circumstances has its advocates.
But no crime is so heinous as to imply that you might possibly not be 100% supportive of the genocide of millions of Jews who live in the Middle East.
In the latest episode, Al Qaeda weighed in on the still-fictional "unity government" between Hamas and Fatah. Ayman Al Zawahri accused Hamas of serving US and Israeli interests by saying that they might agree to a cease fire with Israel under ridiculous and absurd conditions.
Evidently, in many parts of the world, them's fightin' words.
Hamas today fell all over itself to reassure Al Qaeda that its terrorist bona-fides are unimpeachable.
‘We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine,’ Hamas said in a statement, in a clear reference to Israel as well as to the occupied West Bank.Glad they cleared that up.
In its statement Hamas said it continued to be a ‘movement of resistance, seekers of martyrdom’ and that its ‘principles will never be changed’.
‘Zawahri’s recent statements were wrong ... Resistance is our strategy. How and when? This depends on the reality at the time and our corresponding view of things,’ Hamas said.
‘So be assured doctor Ayman, and all those who love Palestine like yourself, that Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path.’
Although no matter how clearly Hamas says its goal, the EU and Russia still want so very hard to believe otherwise.
The Hamas statement above was a bit too apologetic, and not in the hallowed Arab tradition. Usually one expects something a bit more combative. And sure enough, the Hamas website attacks Al-Zawahri in the time-honored manner, accusing him of not caring about Palestinian Arabs and of helping the Jews:
The director general of palestinedialogue.net, one of the most famous electronic websites of the Hamas movement, who introduced himself as Dr. Othman, has accused Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, of being behind the elimination of the first Palestinian group of Al-Qaeda members and the dismissal of all Palestinians who used to work for Bin Laden's institutions everywhere.You see, Zawahiri? Hamas is trying to destroy Israel not only through terror but also through politics - just like Mohammed!
Othman said that whoever knows Zawahiri will know that this man was behind the planned dismissal of all Palestinians and the employment of Egyptians instead. Dr. Othman added that some of these newly-recruited Egyptians were from the Egyptian intelligence.
Othman added that Zawahiri used to deceive Bin Laden by telling him that he has some Al-Qaeda groups working in Palestine; then, when Palestinians contacted Bin Laden, he refused to hire them as Al-Qaeda members because he believed what Zawahiri told him about members of Al-Qaeda already working in Palestine, while this was never true. Zawahiri even had dealings with the Egyptian intelligence, such as handing some of the Palestinians in Egypt over to them to exchange for Zawahiri's friends, Othman added.
Othman also confirmed that Zawahiri has detested Palestinians, and Hamas, for over ten years, when he became the second man in Al-Qaeda. He even used to talk about his hatred to Hamas amongst his followers, Dr. Othman said. "He never tried to understand that the Hamas movement is a huge movement, and it intends to make changes, and it inspires its believers from the great Islam," he said.
Dr. Othman added: "If Zawahiri understands politics, he should play the game from all sides, not only the weapons game; we learned that from the great prophet Mohammad." He also urged Zawahiri to respect others when he speaks about them. Othman said to Zawahri, "We will respect you when you stop attacking Hamas, who are running a revolution in Palestine." He added that he will respect Zawahiri, "When he stops supporting the Jews and stops the incitement against Hamas; it would have been better for him to keep silent instead of throwing out these words about Hamas".
Othman ended by saying: "The people used to like Al-Qaeda because it launched a war on the US, who is supporting the occupation in Palestine, Afghanistan, and now Iraq, but this has gone after Al-Qaeda struck the innocent people in the hotels of Amman. These people, whom we still meet their family members and still pay condolences to them. What happens in Amman is a witness to the blindness of Zawahiri and his group's weapons, which don’t differentiate between people."
You've really got to brush up on your Koran!
UPDATE: I found the actual text of the original Zawahiri note about Hamas. He certainly can dish it out!
I am sorry to face the Muslim nation with the truth, and to tell it please accept our condolences for (the loss) of the HAMAS leadership. It has fallen in the swamp of capitulation. In the past, at the time of Al-Nakbah , Hasan al-Banna, whom we pray God would regard as a martyr, and Shaykh Amin al-Husayni, may God have mercy on their souls, gathered the fedayeen groups and marched toward Palestine. Now, at the time of the deal, the HAMAS leadership is handing over to the Jews most of Palestine.
..
The HAMAS leadership has finally joined the train of Al Sadat for humiliation and capitulation. The HAMAS leadership has sold out Palestine, and earlier it had sold out referring to Shari'ah as the source of jurisdiction. It has sold all that to be allowed to maintain one-third of the government.
And what kind of government is this that does not have control over entry or exit, and movement between its two parts without a permit from Israel? It is a government whose prime minister is not allowed to enter his homeland and is not allowed to do so unless the Egyptians mediate between him and the Israeli defense minister. He would stay outside in the cold in front of the Rafah crossing until the Israeli minister gives approval.
For the sake of retaining one third of the seats in this ridiculous government, HAMAS leadership has abandoned the rule of Shar'iah. It has also ceded most of the Palestinian territories. For one-third of the seats of this ridiculous government, they abandoned the resistance movement and accepted the government of bargaining; they abandoned the movement of martyrdom operations and accepted the government of respect for international resolutions; they abandoned the heroic struggler movement and accepted the domesticated beggar government; they abandoned the movement of penetrating the enemy throngs with explosives and accepted the government of playing with words in the halls of palaces. For a third of the seats in t he government, they abandoned the rule of Shari'ah and bowed to the international legitimacy....