By Bruce Hoffman
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
“Not every German who bought a
copy of Mein Kampf necessarily read it … But it might be
argued that had more non-Nazi Germans read it before 1933 and had the foreign
statesmen of the world perused it carefully while there was still time, both
Germany and the world might have been saved from catastrophe.”
— William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich
How many Israelis, or Jews, or anyone else for that
matter, have read the 1988 Hamas Covenant or the revised charter that was
issued in 2017? With 36 articles of only a few paragraphs’ length each in the
former, and 42 concise statements of general principles and objectives in the
latter, both are considerably shorter and more digestible than the 782-page
original German-language edition of Mein Kampf. Moreover, unlike
Hitler’s seminal work, which was not published in English until March 1939,
excellent English translations of both the original Hamas Covenant and its
successor can easily be found on the internet.
Released on August 18, 1988, the original covenant spells
out clearly Hamas’s genocidal intentions. Accordingly, what happened in Israel
on Saturday is completely in keeping with Hamas’s explicit aims and stated
objectives. It was, in fact, the inchoate realization of Hamas’s true
ambitions.
The most relevant of the document’s 36 articles can be
summarized as falling within four main themes:
1.
The complete destruction of Israel as an
essential condition for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of a
theocratic state based on Islamic law (Sharia),
2.
The need for both unrestrained and unceasing
holy war (jihad) to attain the above objective,
3.
The deliberate disdain for, and dismissal of,
any negotiated resolution or political settlement of Jewish and Muslim claims
to the Holy Land, and
4.
The reinforcement of historical anti-Semitic
tropes and calumnies married to sinister conspiracy theories.
Thus, as fighting rages in Israel and Gaza, and may yet
escalate and spread, pleas for moderation, restraint, negotiation, and the
building of pathways to peace are destined to find no purchase with Hamas. The
covenant makes clear that holy war, divinely ordained and scripturally
sanctioned, is in Hamas’s DNA.
Israel’s Complete and Utter Destruction
The covenant opens with a message that precisely
encapsulates Hamas’s master plan. Quoting Hassan al-Banna, the Egyptian founder
of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a constituent member (Article 2),
the document proclaims, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until
Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”
Lest there be any doubt about Hamas’s sanguinary aims
toward Israel and the Jewish people, the introduction goes on to explain:
This Covenant of the Islamic
Resistance Movement (HAMAS), clarifies its picture, reveals its identity,
outlines its stand, explains its aims, speaks about its hopes, and calls for
its support, adoption and joining its ranks. Our struggle against the Jews is
very great and very serious … It is a step that inevitably should be followed
by other steps.
After some general explanatory language about Hamas’s
religious foundation and noble intentions, the covenant comes to the Islamic
Resistance Movement’s raison d’être: the slaughter of Jews. “The Day of
Judgement will not come about,” it proclaims, “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.”
Article 11 spells out why this annihilation of Jews is
required. Palestine is described as an “Islamic Waqf”—an endowment predicated
on Muslim religious, education, or charitable principles and therefore
inviolate to any other peoples or religions. Accordingly, the territory that
now encompasses Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank is
consecrated for future Moslem
generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be
squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up … This Waqf remains
as long as earth and heaven remain. Any procedure in contradiction to Islamic
Sharia, where Palestine is concerned, is null and void.
In sum, any compromise over this land, including the
moribund two-state solution, much less coexistence among faiths and peoples, is
forbidden.
Holy War
Article 12 links the exclusive Muslim right to the land
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River with the religious
obligation incumbent upon all Muslims to wage a war of religious purification.
“Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an
enemy should tread Moslem land. Resisting and quelling the enemy becomes the
individual duty of every Moslem [sic], male or female”—a point later
reiterated in Articles 14 and 15.
Article 15, moreover, highlights the importance of
inculcating this mindset in children. “It is important that basic changes be
made in the school curriculum, to cleanse it of the traces of ideological
invasion that affected it as a result of the orientalists and missionaries who
infiltrated the region following the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of
Salah el-Din (Saladin).” Along these lines, Article 30 also points out that
jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy:
“Writers, intellectuals, media people, orators, educaters [sic]” are
called upon to “fulfill their duty, because of the ferocity of the Zionist
offensive and the Zionist influence in many countries exercised through
financial and media control, as well as the consequences that all this lead to
in the greater part of the world.”
Nothing Is Negotiable
Article 13 rejects any kind of negotiations for, or
peaceful resolution of, Jewish and Palestinian territorial claims to the land.
On this point, the covenant is completely transparent: “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.” Nor are
these words historical artifacts. Hamas “military” communiqués heralding the
triumphs of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood end with the words “It is a jihad of
victory or martyrdom.”
Indeed, this part of the covenant stresses that:
Initiatives, and so-called
peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the
principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is
abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance
Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the
sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight.
The covenant further says of international negotiations
that the “Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their
future, rights and fate toyed with.”
Base Anti-Semitism
The covenant is especially noteworthy for its trafficking
in odious calumnies and conspiracy theories about the Jewish people and the
alleged superhuman influence and power that they exercise over all mankind. “In
their Nazi treatment [of other peoples], the Jews made no exception for women
or children,” Article 20 begins. “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. They deal with people as if
they were the worst war criminals.”
Article 22 advances this theme. Channeling the
fantastical arguments of the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which
is discussed in Article 32), Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and the Ku Klux
Klan, it elaborates on the depth and breadth of Jewish perfidy. The language of
this article is so unhinged that it is worth quoting in full:
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 realization of their dream. With their money, they took control
of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting
stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts
of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the
fruit therein. 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. With their money they were able to
control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries
in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.
You may speak as much as you want
about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were
able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling
resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations
through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through
which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way
for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the
replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security
Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on
anywhere, without having their finger in it.
Article 28 continues this theme and again cites various
civic organizations and fraternal orders as the malign vessels through which
the Jewish people relentlessly pursue their goal of global domination.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are integral tools of the Jews’ nefarious plot:
The Zionist invasion is a vicious
invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and
contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and
espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the
Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these
organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and
according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying
values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam.
It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate
its control and expansion.
After Palestine, Article 32 explains, “the Zionists
aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested
the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on.
Their plan is embodied in the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ and their
present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.” Standing against this
overwhelming force is Hamas—“the spearhead of the circle of struggle with world
Zionism and a step on the road.”
Tucked into Article 31, toward the end of the delineation
of its three dozen guiding principles, Hamas claims that all faiths can
“coexist in peace and quiet with each other” under its unique “wing of Islam.”
But lest anyone be lulled into believing the promise of this paradise on Earth,
Hamas demands as the price of entry full allegiance and unquestioning
compliance with its rule: “It is the duty of the followers of other religions
to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these
followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and
terror.”
A Kinder, Gentler Charter?
On May 1, 2017, Hamas issued a revised charter. Gone were
the “vague religious rhetoric and outlandish utopian pronouncements” of the
earlier document, according to analysis prepared for the Institute of Palestine
Studies. Instead, the new charter was redolent of “straightforward and mostly
pragmatic political language” that had “shifted the movement’s positions and
policies further toward the spheres of pragmatism and nationalism as opposed to
dogma and Islamism.” Nonetheless, the analyst was struck by “the movement’s
adherence to its founding principles” alongside newly crafted, “carefully
worded” language suggesting moderation and flexibility.
Israel immediately dismissed the group’s effort to
promote a kinder, gentler image of its once avowedly bloodthirsty agenda.
“Hamas is attempting to fool the world, but it will not succeed,” a
spokesperson from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office predicted.
In fact, the new document differs little from its
predecessor. Much like the original, the new document asserts Hamas’s
long-standing goal of establishing a sovereign, Islamist Palestinian state that
extends, according to Article 2, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
and from the Lebanese border to the Israeli city of Eilat—in other words,
through the entirety of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. And it is similarly
unequivocal about “the right of return” of all Palestinian refugees displaced
as a result of the 1948 and 1967 wars (Article 12)—which is portrayed as “a
natural right, both individual and collective,” divinely ordained and
“inalienable.” That right, therefore “cannot be dispensed with by any party,
whether Palestinian, Arab or international,” thus again rendering negotiations
or efforts to achieve any kind of political settlement between Israel and the
Palestinians irrelevant, void, or both. Article 27 forcefully reinforces this
point: “There is no alternative to a fully sovereign Palestinian State on the
entire national Palestinian soil, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The most striking departure from the 1988 charter is that
the 2017 statement of principles and objectives now claims that Hamas is not
anti-Jewish but anti-Zionist and, accordingly, sees “Zionists” and not “Jews”
as the preeminent enemy and target of its opprobrium. The revised document
therefore modulates the blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric of its predecessor but
once again decries Zionism as central to a dark, conspiratorial plot of global
dimensions.
For centuries, Jews have been blamed for causing the
anti-Semitism directed against them. The new Hamas charter perpetuates this
libel, arguing, “It is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the
Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity” and who are therefore
responsible for the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
The Zionist project, according to Article 14, is a
“racist, aggressive, colonial and expansionist project based on seizing the
properties of others; it is hostile to the Palestinian people and to their
aspiration for freedom, liberation, return and self-determination. The Israeli
entity is the plaything of the Zionist project and its base of aggression.”
Article 15 goes on to claim that Zionism is the enemy not just of the
Palestinian people but of all Muslims, and that it poses “a danger to
international security and peace and to mankind and its interests and
stability.” The following article then attempts to thread the needle between
anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism: “Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the
Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion.”
Although the new charter lacks the febrile denunciations
of “initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international
conferences” of its predecessor, it makes Hamas’s position on Israel’s
existence abundantly clear. “The establishment of ‘Israel’ is entirely illegal
and contravenes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” Article 18
states, “and goes against their will and the will of the Ummah.” Driving home
this point, the new Article 19 proclaims, “There shall be no recognition of the
legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Whatever has befallen the land of Palestine
in terms of occupation, settlement building, judaisation [sic] or
changes to its features or falsification of facts is illegitimate. Rights never
lapse.”
As for the promise of peace between Israel and Palestine
expressed in the 1993 Oslo Accords, Article 21 is explicit in stating Hamas’s
rejection of that landmark agreement: “Hamas affirms that the Oslo Accords and
their addenda contravene the governing rules of international law in that they
generate commitments that violate the inalienable rights of the Palestinian
people. Therefore, the Movement rejects these agreements and all that flows
from them.”
Hamas affirms, instead, its commitment to liberating
Palestine by force. “Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a
legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and
laws,” the document states. “At the heart of these lies armed resistance, which
is regarded as the strategic choice for protecting the principles and the
rights of the Palestinian people.”
Perhaps the most astonishing statement in the entire new
document—issued by a terrorist group that has forbade elections in Gaza since
2007—is the fatuous claim in Article 29 that “Hamas believes in, and adheres
to, managing its Palestinian relations on the basis of pluralism, democracy,
national partnership, acceptance of the other and the adoption of dialogue.”
Plus Ça Change, Plus C’est la Même Chose
In the British historian Richard J. Evans’ magisterial
account of the Third Reich, he recounts the reflections of a young German woman
who’d read Mein Kampf in 1933: “Like many of her
upper-middle-class friends, she discounted the violence and antisemitism of the
National Socialists as passing excesses which would soon disappear.” Until
October 7, 2023, many in Palestine, Israel, and elsewhere may similarly have
dismissed or discounted the acuity of Hamas’s aims and ambitions, its true
objectives, and its as-yet-unfulfilled master plan as stated in both the 1988
and 2017 documents. Few are as ignorant or uncomprehending now.
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