Fisking Hamas' spokesman to the West

The Globe and Mail has a Q&A with Ahmed Yousef, Hamas spokesman for the West.

Question: Do you believe that there exists a Jewish people with roots in the Holy Land? Shouldn’t they be allowed a state?

-- Mark Surchin of Toronto, Eric Beckerman, Jon Kerner

Answer: Historically speaking, the Holy Land has been inhabited by members of the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Christianity and Judaism). However, the Zionist project usurped this land in order to establish a Jewish state. The indigenous people who were living on the land were forcibly removed from their homes in 1948 and they remain as refugees waiting to return as set out by UN resolution 194. We as Palestinians cannot comprehend why Israel insists that there must be a Jewish state when the land has been home to all three religions over the long course of history.

Yousef is saying here that there is no such thing as a Jewish people, and that they are merely members of a religious group. As such they don't have the right to have a state, and by implication "Palestine" should not be exclusive to one religion.

Yet the Hamas charter states the exact opposite in the relationship between Islam and nationalism:

Hamas regards Nationalism (Wataniyya) as part and parcel of the religious faith. Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims. And this becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband’s authorization, and a slave without his masters’ permission. This [principle] does not exist under any other regime, and it is a truth not to be questioned. While other nationalisms consist of material, human and territorial considerations, the nationality of Hamas also carries, in addition to all those, the all important divine factors which lend to it its spirit and life; so much so that it connects with the origin of the spirit and the source of life and raises in the skies of the Homeland the Banner of the Lord, thus inexorably connecting earth with Heaven.

Of course, he is also lying when he says that all Palestinian Arabs were forcibly removed, and that UNGC 194 offers the unlimited right to return.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why doesn’t Hamas reject violence? Do you really think you can win by fighting?

-- Yves Crepeaum, Sackville, N.B., Laurence Knight

A: The Palestinians have been forced into engaging with a legitimate struggle due to the current occupation. The Palestinians must continue in their struggle to liberate their land from the occupying force. The UN resolutions have protected the right for those who lose their homes and land to defend their rights.

Palestinian Arab violence against Israel pre-dates "occupation." It even pre-dates Israel.

The Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, is named after an Arab terrorist from the 1930s who fought against Jews living in Palestine. Yousef has nothign bad to say about him - if he did, he would probably not live out the week.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why does your Covenant advocate killing Jews, and your text books teach children to hate?

-- Jillian York, Ran Ukashi of Winnipeg, Christopher Slatter, Jonathan Lampert

A: The Covenant does not advocate the murder of Jews, but for the Palestinians to defend themselves against the continuing occupation. This is a direct reaction to the aggressive, expansionist Zionist project and the growing displacement of Palestinians from their homes. Children are not taught to hate. If anything teaches our children to hate, it is the daily events of the occupation. Sanctions, occupation and the siege have impacted on our children's thinking.

Here is every mention of the word "Jew" in the Hamas Charter:

For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.

The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: 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: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).

[Peace] conferences are no more than a means to appoint the nonbelievers as arbitrators in the lands of Islam. Since when did the Unbelievers do justice to the Believers? “And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed. Say: Lo! the guidance of Allah [himself] is the Guidance. And if you should follow their desires after the knowledge which has come unto thee, then you would have from Allah no protecting friend nor helper.” Sura 2 (the Cow), verse 120. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.

When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad.

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people’s livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor. In their horrible actions they mistreat people like the most horrendous war criminals. Exiling people from their country is another way of killing them.

We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: “Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind.” Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.

Within the circle of the conflict with world Zionism, the Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the avant-garde. It joins its efforts to all those who are active on the Palestinian scene, but more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war. “We have cast among them enmity and hatred till the day of Resurrection. As often as they light a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. Their effort is for corruption in the land, and Allah loves not corrupters.” Sura V (Al-Ma’idah—the Table spread), verse 64.

Of course, Hamas TV has encouraged children to murder Jews on many occasions. Here's just one.

So Yousef is a liar.

Tomorrow they will print more of Hamas' lies in the form of answers to readers' questions. But why bother - we already know that his answers are lies.