Andrea Levin
Boston Globe
ISRAEL'S goals in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza have been widely discussed, but little focus is given to the aims of Hamas and how it has shaped the crisis. Some observers note the radical Islamic group's calls for Israel's destruction, but the implication often is that whatever the rhetoric of the organization, Hamas is vastly out-gunned by Israel and largely confined in an enclave with "homemade" and erratic rockets that do little damage.. In fact, Hamas does not just call for but has been actively pursuing the destruction of Israel in accord with its guiding principles. It pioneered suicide bombings inside Israel beginning in the 1990s that killed and maimed Jews in their own communities. Hamas did so seeking to terrorize, demoralize, and drive them out. The rockets it rains down from Gaza into Israel in ever-widening arcs also seek to destroy Jewish life in Israel.
The reason for Hamas aggression is, according to the group's charter, that every inch of modern-day Israel is "Islamic Waqf land given to all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection." The charter states: "In this respect, it is like any other land that the Muslims have conquered by force, because the Muslims consecrated it at the time of the conquest as religious endowment for all generations of Muslims. . ."
There is no avenue of compromise, no area of debate; for Hamas, the land of Israel is forfeit to Islam, forever.
How to reach its ends? "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad," says the charter. And specifically "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' "
Beyond the territorial ultimatum, the charter demonizes the Jewish people. It accuses Jews of causing the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution, World War I and World War II, and with forming "secret organizations, all over the world, in order to destroy [those countries'] societies and to serve the Zionists' interests, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions. . ."
It emphasizes that to instill all this in Palestinians an "indoctrination campaign must involve ulama [clergy], educators, teachers and information and media experts, as well as all intellectuals, especially the young people and the sheikhs of Islamic movements." It requires "books, articles, pamphlets, sermons, epistles, traditional songs, poems, [patriotic] songs, plays."
The Nazi-like depiction of Jews and utter denial of their religious, legal, and historic ties to the land of Israel - not to mention their humanity in any regard - are not just written into the Hamas founding document but are imparted to Palestinians in every aspect of their lives.
For example, a 2002 kindergarten graduation by a Hamas charitable organization in Gaza featured 1,600 children carrying pretend rifles and a 5-year-old girl on stage reenacting the murder of two Israelis in Ramallah, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv. The child dipped her hands in red paint and raised them aloft, mimicking hands the Palestinians dipped in the blood of murdered Israelis and proudly raised in victory to a mob after the notorious October 2000 killings.
Similarly striking was a 2007 interview on Hamas television with two children of female suicide bomber Rim Al-Riayshi. The children were asked if they love and miss their dead mother. The interviewer inquires: "She killed Jews, right? How many did she kill, Muhammad? How many Jews did Mama kill?" The son answered: "five." The daughter recited a poem named after her mother entitled "Mama Rim" beginning: "Rim, you are a fire bomb."
Adults are likewise subjected to ferocious indoctrination via media, mosques, and political culture - all teaching that Muslims will gain world dominion, beginning with freeing Palestine from the Jews.
Understanding Hamas's supremacist and murderous goals, contempt for non-Muslim rights, and programs of indoctrination helps put in perspective the challenges Israel faces in navigating a course consistent with the imperatives of its own moral and democratic system but at the same time one that defends the nation against a merciless adversary.
Andrea Levin is director and president of CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
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