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9 Things You Need To Know About Hamas — Straight From Its Charter

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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Before you comment on the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, you really have to read the charter upon which the terrorist group Hamas was founded.

To understand Israel’s enemy in Gaza, you have know why the group was constituted. And it wasn’t constituted to negotiate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hamas was founded in December 1987. In August 1988, it issued a covenant outlining its mission. The covenant has never been renounced by Hamas, even though some try to claim it is now merely a historical artifact.

Here are nine key takeaways about Hamas, taken straight from its charter.

1.) Hamas isn’t looking to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. It wants to destroy Israel. Quoting Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, the charter reads: 

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

2.) Actually, Hamas’ charter goes beyond destroying Israel. It longs for Jewish genocide: 

“The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'”

3.) The international community may love the peace process, but Hamas makes it clear in its charter that it doesn’t believe in peace conferences. As its charter states: 

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

4.) Unsurprisingly for an organization that supports Jewish genocide, Hamas’ charter is explicitly anti-Semitic. For instance, Hamas’ charter claims Jews — not just Israelis — are responsible for all wars: 

“There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.”

5.) And all revolutions: 

“They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests.”

6.) And they also control media: 

“For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others.”

7.) According to its charter, Hamas is a big fan of violent jihad:

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

8.) Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and therefore shares the Muslim Brotherhood’s enthusiasm for “death for the sake of Allah:”

“Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.”

9.) Finally, like many anti-Israel protesters who don’t seem to like Jews very much, Hamas accuses Israel of being Nazi-like an awful lot in its charter. For instance, there’s this: 

“The society that confronts a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people — such a society is entitled to this Islamic spirit.”

And this: 

“In their Nazi treatment, the Jews made no exception for women or children. Their policy of striking fear in the heart is meant for all. They attack people where their breadwinning is concerned, extorting their money and threatening their honor.”

And this: 

“The Zionist Nazi activities against our people will not last for long.”

And, finally, this: 

“There is no way out except by concentrating all powers and energies to face this Nazi, vicious Tatar invasion.”

But don’t accuse Hamas of being intellectually consistent on the question of the Holocaust. Though its charter repeatedly accuses Jews of being like Nazis, in 2009 the organization protested the United Nations over teaching the history of Holocaust to Palestinian children because it was, according to Hamas, “a lie invented by the Zionists.”

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Jamie Weinstein