These words are taken, word-for-word, from the Hamas Charter of 1988: “Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)
“Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Quran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.” (Article 8)
These few words were chosen at random. Every word of the Hamas Charter of 1988 reeks with the stench of Jew-hatred. Its position on the establishment of modern-day Israel is totally uncompromising and unyielding. In its antisemitic discourse, Jews are consistently painted as the apotheosis of evil. They are “infidels” whose only purpose on earth is to be eliminated.
According to the charter, all of Palestine, including the existence of Israel, is considered Holy Muslim soil. No human being has the right to negotiate it away. Jihad, or “holy war,” is the one way of liberating the land, and every Muslim has a personal responsibility to commit it.
On Sept. 29, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip. He clearly stated that “Gaza would be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” He continued to explain how the land will be directed to the people of Gaza, “who have suffered long enough”; how “all military operations will be suspended”; and that “within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.”
All hostages? What about the case of Ran Gvili? The 24-year-old was murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, while trying to defend Kibbutz Alumim. A member of the Yasam Police Unit, his body is still being held in Gaza.
And what about the disarming of Hamas? The plan clearly states that “once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”
Without understanding the deep resonance of the Hamas Charter in the fervid imaginations of young Palestinians, Trump has declared that he is ready to proceed to Phase 2.
Do people not realize that already, Hamas had demonstrated the capacity to reassert itself in the parts of Gaza that Israel was forced to withdraw from? They are rebuilding tunnels and continue to use guerrilla tactics.
Hamas has started rebuilding its force this past year. The terrorist organization receives a great deal of regional support from Iran and Qatar. Khaled Mashal, a founder of Hamas, has been living in Doha since 2012, making Qatar a central nexus for the Hamas movement. He was allegedly a target of Israel’s airstrikes on the country in September.
The Qataris have dubiously inserted themselves as the current “moderates,” allegedly negotiating the release of Israeli hostages. Why, then, were they starved, tortured, beaten and molested for so many months—and in many cases, years?
Which brings me to the most disturbing aspect of this report: Qatari Minister Ali Al Thawadi has just been appointed by Trump to serve on the Gazan executive board. It is common knowledge that Qatar’s interests are not even remotely in line with the continuous survival of the State of Israel.
Beyond that, however, is the vexing fact that Trump has just invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to serve on the new Gaza Board of Peace. Erdoğan has continuously blamed Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the destabilization of the entire Middle East and the “genocide” of Palestinian Arabs.
He then appointed Hakan Fidan, currently Turkey’s minister of foreign affairs; he was previously the director of the National Intelligence Organization. A somewhat unlikely candidate since his father was Kurdish, Fidan is also seen as a mouthpiece for the Turkish president and a possible successor for his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Unfortunately, he has also helped to formulate Syrian President Ahmed al-Shaara’s geopolitical strategy of support for Turkey within Syria.
On Oct. 25, 2023, Fidan expressed his support for the Palestinian cause, saying “those who support Israel are accomplices to its crimes.”
On numerous occasions, Trump has loudly proclaimed to be “the best friend Israel has ever had.”
Is this the price Israel must pay for such a friendship?
