Dr. Andrew Bostom has two excellent posts, Heeding David Littman: Confronting Hamas’ Genocidal Jew-Hatred (Part 1) and Part 2
In part 1, Dr. Bostom explains,
In classical and modern Koranic exegeses by seminal, authoritative Islamic theologians (for details, see here) this central motif is coupled to Koranic verses 5:60, and 5:78, which describe the Jews transformation into apes and swine (5:60), or simply apes, (i.e. verses 2:65 and 7:166), having been “…cursed by the tongue of David, and Jesus, Mary’s son” (5:78). Muhammad himself repeats this Koranic curse in a canonical hadith (Sunan Abu Dawoud, Book 37, Number 4322), “He [Muhammad] then recited the verse [5:78]: ‘…curses were pronounced on those among the children of Israel who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary’ ”.
Salah al-Khalidi (fl. late 20th century) makes plain how these motifs of Koranic Jew-hatred are interpreted by Hamas in a manner that is entirely consistent with classical exegeses. Extracts (translated from the original Arabic by Dr. Michael Schub in my The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism) are provided below from Khalidi’s major work Haqa’iq Koraniyya al Qadiyya al-Filastinniya [“Koranic Facts Regarding the Palestinian Issue”] which was first published in 1991 by the Hamas Publishing House Manshūrāt Filastin al-Muslima, and translated into Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Russian, and English (formerly available online at www.assabeel.com) due to its international popularity.
Historian David Littman, Dr. Bostom reminds us,
has waged an heroic personal campaign—in public, at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, since January, 1989—to elucidate key aspects of Hamas’ genocidal ideology, demonstrating unapologetically how this annihilationist hatred is sanctioned by Islam’s foundational text.
Part 2,
Jihad is the other pillar of Hamas’ foundational Jew-annihilationist ideology featured in the 1988 Covenant. Once again, this is already suggested in the opening statement before the preamble which includes the following quote by Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: “Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it.” Hamas, it should be noted, claims to be a wing of the International Muslim Brotherhood. Article 2 of the Hamas Charter, for example, states: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organisation which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times.”
But the body of theHamas Covenant includes unequivocal statements of Hamas’ irredentist commitment to the annihilation of Israel via jihad. Jihad martyrdom is lauded in article 8 “the Hamas slogan,” (in fact borrowed from the 1928 Charter of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood), which states, “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.” Article 13 makes plain that Hamas’ jihadism is completely incompatible with any meaningful Middle East peace settlement
Please do take the time to read these two posts. It is necessary that we understand what Hamas stands for. The existence of Israel depends on it.
Excellent find Fausta, and it’s well worth the time, though I wonder at who by now still cannot know the intentions of Hamas.
I’ve been reading Oriana Fallaci today, and I put up a post on politicalvindication.com highlighting an interview she did with Golda Meir in November of 1972. It is insightful to hear the prime minister talk about the prospects of peace then, and how little things have changed today…
As Shane noted so well, “…who […] cannot know the intentions of Hamas.”
Well said friend and Fausta, great find. Thanks!
My suggestion would be to drive Hamas into the desert and let them fend for themselves. Aside from the obvious fact that they already are in a desert and show no inclination of becoming more like the Mormons.
Slightly more relevant, though anecdotal, is a story one of my college professors told me years ago that Islam has had plenty of historical and intellectual chances to have its own Reformation but failed every time. And even though he was Muslim and from the West Bank, though he held a Royal Jordanian passport, he too saw little chance for peace. But his take was that a large group of increasingly armed, mainly by the Soviets then petrodollars, were fervent but at the same time hypersensitive to criticism because of their own lack of confidence in thir religion.
Shane, I linked to your post here http://faustasblog.com/?p=8903
Pat, he’s exactly right.
Great pieces, Fausta, thanks for linking to them. Politicians such as Peres who can’t understand (or refuse to admit) the religious and universalist nature of Islam’s war against Jews and the West in general are truly fighting with one eye closed.