Israel inching towards the i-word, sort of

Part 1

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

One week ago today, on Simchat Torah, Arab Muslims on jihad, members of the Islamic Resistance Movement, perpetrated the biggest and most grotesque massacre on Jews that that small country had ever suffered. “The horror! The horror!” might be too abstract, too clichéd even, for what is unfolding in the Jewish homeland at the hands of the religion of peace. Better would be Yoav Fromer’s opening paragraph to his 8 October 2023 article, “The Hamas Holocaust”, in Tablet magazine:

Grief-stricken mothers, wailing helplessly as their terrified children were violently torn from their arms. Couples separated at gunpoint: men to the right, women to the left, and marched away in separate directions. Entire families rounded up and shot. Elderly disabled women, unable to even get up by themselves, carted into automobiles by force. Panic-stricken youths running for their lives from a hail of bullets into forests, seeking shelter by crawling under bushes and into ditches. Injured women stripped naked, publicly assaulted and humiliated, dragged through the streets by barbarous men with hate-filled eyes and demonic smiles. Young kids—too young and innocent to even understand what was happening around them—kidnapped from their homes, after witnessing their parents murdered in cold blood, and surrounded by other young children, whose minds were poisoned with antisemitic enmity, torturing them for fun.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant, announcing the total siege on Gaza, is reported to have said, “We are fighting barbarians.” Some media outlets have reported this as “We are fighting animals.” Again, which words do you choose? For decades, voices in the wilderness have been calling Islam barbaric and those who live by its teachings barbarians. And again, we run the risk of cliché, a cheapening, a trivialising, of what is a complete abandonment of all that makes us human for unrestrained depravity, divinely-endorsed. Around the world, Muslims cheer, congratulate Hamas on its “victory” and mock the Jews being brutalised, raped, mutilated and murdered, the videos all gleefully shared on social media. “The most magnificent images of heroism and sacrifice against the Zionist occupation,” says Hamas.

Whether Galant said “barbarians” or “animals” makes a difference. Animals are not depraved. To compare animals to Muslims on jihad is to grossly mischaracterise animals. Even to say that Hamas is worse than animals is to bracket animals with jihad rapists and mass murderers. This, animals most certainly are not. Barbarism is the complete negation of all that is civilised, human, humane, ethical.

The “victory” that Hamas is congratulated for is a “victory for the Muslims.” This mass murder and mass rape, the gleeful brutality, torture and mockery, is the humiliation that their holy Qur’an command be inflicted on Jews as they are humbled before the best of people. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi captured it well when he declared, “The Palestinian people, the Palestinian soldiers, all Palestinian groups, and the Islamic Ummah really, should be congratulated for this victory.” And congratulate themselves they do. In Pakistan, Afghanistan and wherever there are Muslims, the ummah clamours to join in the feeding frenzy. The sentence starting with, “We are fighting barbarians,” concludes with “and will respond accordingly.” Good. One hopes. But already there is doubt that Israeli establishment actions will meet their words.

“On Saturday morning, the Islamist (sic) Hamas organisation lived up to its terror designation,” said TV7 Israel News on Monday night. Hamas is not an “Islamist” organisation; it is an Islamic organisation. And on Saturday, it lived up to its Islamic reputation. “Hamas” is an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, not Islamist Resistance Movement. “Hamas wants to murder us all,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Of course they do, as does the Palestinian Authority, as does Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as does Lion’s Den, as do Israel’s Muslim Arab “citizens”, as does Hezbollah, as does the Houthis, as does Al-Shabaab, as does Al-Qaida, as does the Taliban, as does the Islamic Republic of Iran, as does the overwhelming majority of people in Pakistan, as do all the Muslims who feel their pride and honour restored by Saturday’s barbarism. Yoav Fromer, in choosing to title his article “The Hamas Holocaust” offers the following justification:

[The massacre was] dubbed by Israelis as our own national “9/11” or “Pearl Harbor.” But unfortunately, given the nature and scale of the horrific crimes perpetrated against Israelis—the vast majority of them civilians, not soldiers, including many children, women, and the elderly—the more appropriate analogy is that of the Holocaust.

This is flippant, unconvincing and quite frankly, offensive line. A daylong slaughter of over a thousand, horrific and sickening as it is, is not a four-year systematic industry of death. Heaps of bodies reduced to skeletons speak of a different and far deeper kind of horror than the horror of blood, gore, dismembered bodies and pure, naked savagery. The shallowness of the content of “The Hamas Holocaust” suggests that Fromer could not resist the catchy alliteration and thought nothing of reducing the gravity of the Holocaust to clickbait.

There is, indeed, a direct link to the Holocaust in that Muslims are commanded by their religion to perpetrate a Holocaust upon the Jews before they can get into Heaven, of which more later. But Fromer is far too superficial to go into that, or even to pick up on Benjamin Netanyahu, once again, vowing “Never again!”

“What happened today is unprecedented in Israel,” said the Prime Minister, “and I will see to it that it does not happen again.” That is a pledge we’ve heard over and over again for the last seventy-eight years, including from Benjamin Netanyahu himself: “Never again!” Israeli soldiers swear and re-swear this Sacred Oath during Memorial Day each year, says Fromer himself. We hear it with every Rabbinic photo-op under “Arbeit Macht Frei,” in trembling voices leaving Yad Vashem, in the pious pronouncements of venal Israeli politicians chasing the next vote. “Never again!” is truly a cliché, and both the Prime Minister and Yoav Fromer just proved it.

This kind of cheapening of our sacred collective memory puts the present writer on high alert for double-speak and ambiguities, whether real or perceived. In the same Netanyahu speech, for example, we hear, “The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities.” Only destroy “Hamas’s capabilities”? Not destroy Hamas? Is this what the shattered Israeli population wants to hear, that after the IDF has done what it is about to do, Hamas will still exists? What capabilities of their own did the Palestinians have when Gaza was handed to them? Certainly not greenhouses.

Hamas built its capabilities relentlessly over time, under the watchful eye of the very IDF now tasked with taking them back down—to what? To killing an acceptable number of Jews at a more acceptable rate, and to be a little less gruesome about it? “We will destroy them,” vows Netanyahu. Does the personal pronoun them, refer to Hamas’s aforementioned capabilities, or to Hamas itself? The uncritical mind and the mind enamoured with Netanyahu will assume the latter. The more seasoned will recall “mowing the lawn”, “changing the equation”, and all the other vacuous and belittling soundbites so beloved of the Prime Minister.

So Gaza is under siege. How long before world condemnation of Israel causes medicines to be let in, before the wounded and the sick are let out for treatment in Israeli hospitals, so they may recover to have another go. How many of these jihad “patients” will have explosives planted in their body cavities to be detonated once inside those hospitals? Will Yoav Galant have considered that they might do such things when he caves, when he shows the screaming world Israel’s compassion for the barbarians he just swore to fight according to their barbarism?

“All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, within that wicked city, we will turn them into islands of ruins,” undertook Netanyahu. And the areas surrounding the “islands” will, presumably, remain intact, as if jihad murders are fixed in place like statues. “I say to the residents of Gaza, leave now, because we will operate forcefully everywhere.” The “residents of Gaza” are assumed to be distinct from Hamas when it comes to “resisting the occupation”. What will the IDF do if Hamas drives around Gaza in pick-up trucks full of Israeli captives clearly visible on the back, rushing to “islands” about to be bombed? Is anyone in the IDF thinking like a barbarian, thinking like a Muslim on jihad? Or will they simply be shocked and paralysed every time by the next barbaric outrage that they had not anticipated, despite declaring their enemy barbarians?

A few days after the massacre, Chris Robbins published “A hypothetical letter Israel could issue to Hamas-supporting countries,” in Arutz7, putting on notice the governments of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia to:

Please send ships for your Gazan compatriots. Send them immediately. They must arrive within 72 hours. You must safely evacuate every single Gazan woman, child and elderly person. It will require hundreds of ships, making several voyages, to transport the nearly two million Gazans to your countries. Provided the ships arrive and evacuations begin, we will restrain ourselves from the most massive retaliation ever warranted.

It isn't clear what Israeli coyness over expulsions is all about given that international law is bent and twisted every which way to ensnare the Jewish state. What does “the most massive retaliation ever warranted” mean, though, great as it sounds? For that we may turn to US Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, national Vice President of Coalition for Jewish Values, writing “A ruthless response is absolutely legitimate,” in Arutz7 yesterday: 

I submit my voice, as the Holy Season of Judaism has come to a conclusion in Exile, to validate ethically as ruthless a military response as Israel can muster:

1. It is imperative, if Israel is capable of doing so, that it exterminate Hamas. Again: exterminate. Leave nothing behind of Hamas.

2. It is imperative, if Israel is capable of doing so, that it exterminate Islamic Jihad. Again: exterminate. Leave nothing behind of Islamic Jihad.

3. It is imperative, if Israel is capable of doing so, that it target all Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders for extermination and exterminate them.

4. Any such leaders who are in hiding must be exterminated as soon as they are found, even twenty years from now.

5. Stop the hagzamah (exaggeration). This was not “Israel’s 9/11.” The Yom Kippur War was Israel’s 9/11. That was an attack on Yom Kippur. It resulted in 3,000 deaths. Other than for Israeli governmental incompetence, it was not the fault of the Israeli Knesset.

6. This happened because Ariel Sharon handed over Gaza to the Arabs, and the entire Labor Party and all the moral predecessors of Meretz and Labor and Yesh Atid voted for it, and others from Likud joined with Ariel Sharon in breaking from the Likud’s official platform. This is what the Left and the spineless “Moderates” did to Israel when they acceded to Sharon handing over Gaza to the Arabs. That day, decided on Tisha B’Av 2005 and then symbolically delayed a day, birthed this attack and war — and all the prior Hamas attacks and wars.

7. This would never have happened if Netanyahu and Israel had fought a previous Hamas War to victory instead of just “mowing the lawn.” And if America did not stop us as well.

8. Israel should not and must not go out of its way to kill even one single Arab civilian “innocent” as an act of revenge, but Israel must not hesitate to kill and exterminate every single terrorist and terror objective, even if it will mean the collateral loss of thousands of civilians. The terrorists base themselves in apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, mosques, ambulances, and other profoundly civilian non-combatant locations. Each such site must be deemed fair game for utter elimination, and no civilian’s presence can justify refraining from exterminating every terror site in Gaza.

Moreover, let it never be forgotten that Hamas came to power in Gaza by means of democratic elections. The population of Gaza have voted for them repeatedly. They are no more innocent than German voters in Dresden who elected Hitler.

9. This must not be a “mowing the lawn” operation but an utter extermination, not the intentional extermination of the civilian population of Gaza, but the utter extermination of Gaza terror, come what may.
10. Israel will win this war handily because it is not an attack on the country alone but an attack on the G-d of Israel, launching deliberately on Sh’mini Atzeret. This was Sadat’s great mistake: he launched his war not only against Israel the country but against the G-d of Israel by striking on Yom Kippur. That is why he never had a chance to win, despite the incompetent Israeli leadership then of Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan. Tellingly, Sadat struck on the secular calendar day of October 6, and G-d left His thumbprint on Sadat’s demise by snuffing him out on October 6 (1981).

11. Avigdor Liberman has offered to join an emergency national unity government if the Israeli government will commit to wipe out Hamas and its leadership. This offer should be warmly accepted. First, it will signal that this indeed will not merely be a “mowing” operation but a war of extinction. Secondly, it will add meaningful legitimacy to the coalition’s actions. Thirdly, it will strike a terrible morale blow to the Left and their 27 Million Shekel demonstrations to see the biggest Bibi Hater of them all sitting in coalition with him. Fourth, it will open a door for Liberman’s later finding a way back in to join an impregnable right-wing coalition, even alongside the religious parties he presently hates, once Netanyahu departs from the political coalition, perhaps three years hence or sooner.

Liberman cannot stand sitting in a coalition that depends for its majority on “The Religious.” But he also cannot stand sitting in a coalition that depends for its majority on “The Arabs.” He hates both. But he lives in Judea-Samaria, not in Rahat or Umm al-Fahm. Bring him in. Also, only by bringing him in can he later be kicked out.

12. Things happen for reasons. And those reasons are part of G-d’s mighty hand and outstretched arm. The minute that nine months of leftist civil disruption escalated to physically attacking public Yom Kippur prayers in the center of Israel’s most populous city, this war became inevitable as G-d’s horrible, terrible punishment that also will begin the process of healing tensions flaming toward civil war.”

The rabbi’s urging needs no reinforcement from me, yet I would add to why this is so important. This morning Liberman revealed the following:

I remind you, on November 13, 2018, [there was] a difficult six-hour cabinet meeting, I demand that we go in and wipe out Gaza, Netanyahu organizes a coalition against me and passes a resolution for a ceasefire with Hamas and also transfers money to them. On November 14, I resign [as Defense Minister] and say at the press conference that ‘a ceasefire with Hamas is a surrender to terrorism, we buy short-term peace at the price of long-term loss of national security.’ That was then, today we see the results.

The importance of Avigdor Liberman’s offer might also be seen in the context of the Israeli government’s readiness to talk to Benny Gantz, an open collaborator with the jihad against Israel. According to Raphael Kreuzer, who quotes Major General (Res.) Itzhak Brik,

Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot diligently cultivated a culture of lies and deception in the army, deliberately misled the elected officials with false presentations, castrated the army by firing outstanding commanders and promoting mediocre officers with a weak leftist orientation and incompetent like them!

Last night came the shocking news that Benny Gantz, who until two days ago insisted that his IDF co-conspirators, traitors all, lead the response to the Simchat Torah Massacre, is now in the Emergency Unity Government, instead of in jail. One can only hope that his inclusion in the EUG is an expedient on the Prime Minister’s part to rather have Gantz on the inside pissing out than on the outside pissing in.

IDF Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said, “The invasion of terrorists into the private homes of civilians in (sic) the Gaza Strip, and the taking of women and children - this is murderous terrorism.” Yes, it is, but that is purely a tactical detail. It is jihad, and there are no civilians in jihad, on either side. Because Muslims are, by definition, permanently at war with non-Muslims, then, by their own conception, non-Muslims are permanently at war with them. By the very nature of jihad, there are no “innocent civilians”. In the case of the Palestinians, this reality is simply distilled to it purest essence. Every Jew captured, whether soldier, bed-ridden grandmother or infant in the cradle, is a soldier, and if captured, a prisoner of war. Muslims have their own rules for how prisoners of war are treated.

Since General Halevi talks only of criminals and terrorism, and says, “We are attacking, pursuing and harming anyone who took part in it,” one might legitimately ask, how he will know who took part in it and who did not take part in it? Recognising that we are dealing with jihad makes the answer quite simple: everyone took part in it.

The ones carrying guns, slitting throats and raping anyone with a vagina (and sometimes those without) are obvious participants. Those who liaised with their Israeli collaborators took part in it, those who reconnoitred the border, especially the crossings, took part in it, those who directed them to where they needed to go took part in it, those who gave them food, money and shelter took part in it, those who will rush to provide a “civilian” human shields to fighters will take part in it, those who taunt and mock the captives take part in it, those who proclaim victory on social media take part in it, those who say prayers in mosques take part in it, those who “give their sons” took part in it, those who hide their weapons, all took part in it, and the "it" is jihad. It is all rewarded in the Afterlife. So how will General Halevi, who does not acknowledge jihad, know who took part in it and who did not? He has to assume a distinction where none exists.

With this degree of ignorance of the enemy at the highest levels, one wonders where the leadership is going with, “Hamas is ISIS.” Does this mean that the Prime Minister intends to defy the Supreme Court and act in a way that can actually destroy another ISIS? One might be generous and take the comparison at face value. It is not accurate, but it is accurate enough to serve as a starting point, unlike the glib and quite useless statement by Major General Amos Yadlin (retired), “They [Hamas] behave like ISIS. They are more cruel than ISIS.”

On the one hand, it is a useless statement because all Muslims are commanded to emulate their prophet Muhammad, whose depravity was legendary. For example, Sahih Sunan an-Nisai 4034 reports:

Then they killed the herdsman and apostatised from Islam, and drove off the camels. The Messenger of Allah [SAW] sent (men) after them, who brought them, then he had their hands and feet cut off, and their eyes gouged out, and left them in Al-Harrah [a desert]. Anas said: "I saw one of them biting at the ground from thirst, until they died."

Muhammad, whether historical or mythical, encapsulates all the qualities of the ideal barbarian warlord, and as such is held up as the perfect man, to be venerated and emulated by all. Muslims are also commanded to hate and be harsh to the infidel. In other words, in Islam, no cruelty visited upon a non-Muslim is excessive. So it is quite meaningless to talk of one group of Muslims being more cruel or less cruel than another. None of them have any limits.

However, the implications of the "More cruel than ISIS" comparison indict the government that forcibly removed the Jews from Gaza on several counts. The Israeli government expelled 8,000 Jews from their homes and communities to hand Gaza over to the PLO that, two years later, lost control of the territory to Hamas, an outfit “more cruel than ISIS” that, granted, did not exist at the time, but it did not need to exist for Hamas’s cruelty to be what it was.

Yet the IDF, firstly, allowed such a monstrosity to get a foothold within spitting distance of Jewish communities, and, secondly, did nothing to eradicate it once it had demonstrated just what it intended to do to Israel. Hamas’s takeover of Gaza offered the perfect face-saving opportunity to unto the catastrophe of the Oslo Accords, something that Hamas, in any case, rejects with contempt, hence its takeover of Gaza in the first place. Yet the Israeli leadership did not do it, preferring Gaza to remain in the hands of jihad mass murderers “more cruel than ISIS,” than admit that they had been wrong. It was obvious as day that Hamas was using the free hand it now had in the Strip to advance its jihad against Israel, and where this would end up. Haaretz reported on 6 August 2005:

A senior Palestinian religious leader has issued an edict banning shooting attacks against Israeli security forces and settlements, out of concern they might lead to a postponement of the pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of northern Samaria.

Since Biden and Netanyahu equated Hamas to ISIS, and ISIS’s stunning barbarism and cruelty are well known, there is no need to restrain the discussion in consideration of the bereaved and the suffering. ISIS made a point of tracing back each of its actions to the exact chapter and verse in the Qur’an that the action gives effect to. Those who know that Israel has been facing a jihad war from before she even existed as a state, were not surprised by the barbarism they saw on Saturday, horrified, yes, sickened, yes, but not surprised.

Something has a lot further to go before the Jews in general realise and accept that it is incumbent on every Muslim to hate them and to kill them wherever they find them: “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter,” (Qur’an 2:191). To insist on denying this reality, is to invite tragedy. To insist on defying it, is to bring that tragedy on. Raphael Kreuzer, in an open email to Professors for a Strong Israel on 12 October 2023, wrote:

Five tears for the Kedem family from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Go to Facebook, look at the photo of this family, and you won’t be able to avoid crying. This family was brutally murdered. She included parents Tamar and Yonatan, and children Shahar, Arbel and Omer. Tamar believed, in good faith, that the murderers of her children also wanted peace. She headed a far-left movement called Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies. I have no doubt that she wanted peace, and the results are terrible. (Electronically translated from the Hebrew)

Hamas is bracketed with ISIS, but for a reason that the Israeli leadership dares not mention: jihad, which Israel has no way of either pre-empting or preparing for, since she is the proud “Holy Land” in which all are free to practise their religion, even if their religion commands jihad until “all religion is for Allah.” 

On 8 October 2023, Major General (Res.) Itzhak Brik warned:

Before we proceed to take revenge on Hamas, we need to plan with great care with the assumption that a military operation in Gaza can degenerate into an all-out war on five fronts.

The next war will feature both very difficult battles on land and very difficult attacks from the air. The Israeli home front will be hit by thousands of missiles every day, and along the border, we will be facing thousands of fighters who want to come across.

Let’s take Hezbollah, they have 10,000 highly trained commandos and fighters, anti-tank missiles, and rockets. Hezbollah is not a guerrilla force. Those fighters intend to cross the Lebanese border into Israel, with vehicles, and motorcycles, on foot and invade settlements in the north – we are not ready for that today.

Even Egypt could become a front. Whoever thinks that the peace we signed forty years ago will keep the peace forever doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

And the Syrians are also starting to rebuild their army...

But we’ll face the biggest catastrophe inside the country, as tens of thousands of armed Arab rioters will run throughout the country, and we hadn’t prepared for this.”

Retired Major General Brik believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statement on Saturday that he was waging war on Hamas in Gaza, must take into account that Iran has the ability to “flatten the State of Israel.”

The Prime Minister and the political and security echelons need to think about how the country will withstand a regional war, this must be a central consideration in every decision the government makes,” he stresses. “The reserve units need to be mobilized selectively against the north, against the PA, and Gaza. The Prime Minister should declare a state of national emergency, on the assumption that a regional war is bound to break out.

Once again, however, the Muslims got in first, leaving the ever-reactive advocates of hasbara once again floundering. The Middle East Media Research Institute reports on the Palestinians’ next move. Two days after General Brik’s prognostications, on 10 October 2023, Hamas issued a general mobilisation, not to Hamas or the residents of Gaza per se, but to all Palestinians wherever they may be, to all Arabs and to all Muslims, in other words, a worldwide jihad against Israel. The call also went out to all kufaar enamoured with the Palestinians, to put as much pressure as possible on their free, democratic and prosperous societies:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah. That is better for you, if you only knew.” [(Qur’an 9:41)]

A call to our Palestinian people, the masses of the Arab and Islamic world, and free people worldwide.

Declaration of General Mobilization

Next Friday: ‘Al-Aqsa Flood Friday’ in support of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, and the jihad-waging Gaza.

Palestine and its steadfast people, standing their ground, call upon you from the heart of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle. Answer the call, muster all your energies, and mobilize in numbers, both light and heavy, to support Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, and the jihad-waging Gaza.

From Palestine, the land of Al-Isra and Al-Mi'raj, from the heart of Jerusalem and its surroundings, we extend this call to the living conscience within the hearts of the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation.

The Palestinian resistance, led by the Al-Qassam Brigades, stands at the forefront, illustrating the most magnificent images of heroism and sacrifice against the Zionist occupation. They defend the land, Jerusalem, and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. They protect the dignity of Palestinian women and defend our male and female prisoners on behalf of our entire nation.

From the fortress of resistance and pride in the Gaza Strip, from its steadfast people, men, women, children, and elders, who defy the occupation, and from its minarets, chambers, and mosques, which are subjected to the heinous aggression of the Zionist war machine, we send this call to the free sons and daughters of our Arab and Islamic nation across the world.

Given this historic achievement of our people and their courageous resistance, and to bolster the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of the open aggression of the occupation, thwart its schemes and dreams of Judaizing Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, and achieve victory for the just cause of our Palestinian people and our struggle for the liberation of our land, prisoners, and sanctities, we, in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), affirm the following:

First: We declare next Friday, ‘The Friday of the Al-Aqsa Flood,’ as a day of general mobilization in our Arab and Islamic world and among the free people of the world. It is a day to rally support, offer aid, and participate actively. It is a day to expose the crimes of the occupation, isolate it, and foil all its aggressive schemes. It is a day to demonstrate our love for Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa. It is a day for sacrifice, heroism, and dedication, and to earn the honor of defending the first Qibla of Muslims, the third holiest mosque, and the ascension of the trusted Messenger.

Second: We call upon our rebellious youth throughout the West Bank, in its cities, villages, and uprising camps, in the streets and neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and at the squares of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to rise up, join massive demonstrations, and shake the ground beneath the feet of the Zionist invaders and their settler gangs. Engage with their soldiers and cowardly army in every place, affirming the unity of destiny and the path towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, liberating them from the defilement of the Zionist occupation.

Third: Our people within the occupied territories of 1948, people of honor and courage, who have borne much to preserve their Palestinian-Arab identity. This day is your day to mobilize, assemble, and stand united in guarding the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. Preserve it, its Islamic heritage, its divine message, and prevent settler gangs from desecrating it. Thwart the fascist occupation's plans to divide it, Judaize it, and build their alleged temple. Unite with your people in Gaza and the West Bank.

Fourth: We call upon the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation and our Palestinian people in all places, including refugee camps and the diaspora, to march towards the borders of our beloved Palestine in massive gatherings. On this day, we declare our solidarity with Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa. For those geographically distant, let them gather at the nearest point leading to Jerusalem.

Fifth: We call upon the free people of the world to mobilize in solidarity with our Palestinian people and in support of their just cause and legitimate rights to freedom, independence, return, and self-determination.

Oh sons of our people, the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation, and all free individuals,

Here is Palestine calling out to you, and Al-Aqsa Mosque calling out to you. It awaits your response to fulfill the duty of brotherhood and dignity, to stand with our people and their resistance, and to honorably defend the blessed land of Palestine and protect the dignity of our nation in its Jerusalem and ascension.

'And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.’ [(Qur'an 22:40)]

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas
Tuesday: 25 Rabi' Al-Awwal 1445 AH
October 10, 2023. (My emphasis)

Qur'an 22:40 opens with, "those who were unjustly expelled from their homes for no other reason than their saying: 'Allah is Our Lord,'" a continuation of 22:39, "Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. If Allah were not to repel some through others, monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques wherein the name of Allah is much mentioned, would certainly have been pulled down. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory." It is included as a call to expel the Jews from Israel. Hamas’s Khaled Mash’al further added:

From these city squares, send a message of rage that we stand with Palestine, Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem, and that we are part of this battle. That is the first thing.

Secondly, Gaza is calling for your help – aid, money, whatever you have. Anyone who can make a donation – [know] that this is the moment of truth. This is Jihad with money, and it is like the jihad they wage, sacrificing their lives. Donate for Gaza, its resistance, and its heroes...

This is the moment that the [Islamic] nation must join the battle. We should fight with them....

First of all, I address the countries neighboring [Israel] – Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. I appeal to all of the people, the men and women there – both on the official and popular level. Your duty is greater than that of others because you are the closest to Palestine....

I appeal to the tribes of Jordan, the people of Jordan, my brothers and sisters in Jordan, from all directions, from everywhere: This is the moment of truth, the border is close to you. You know what your duty is. This applies to all the nations....

By Allah, when the world, America, the West, and the Zionists see that the nation has come to the support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that convoys of mujahideen are on their way to shed their pure blood on the land of Palestine, the battlefield will change, the balance of power will change.” (My emphasis)

Two days later, on 12 October 2023, Hamas official Husam Badran, reinforced the call to all Palestinians with access to weapons in Judea and Samaria:

The [West] Bank is the front most capable of aiding Gaza, before we request aid from outside... I say to the sons of the [West] Bank: Act, because every day of delay gives the occupation a chance to kill more sons of our people in Gaza... Anyone who has a weapon in the West Bank in an official capacity [i.e. in the Palestinian Authority security apparatuses] or in the resistance squads [i.e. in the terror militias and organizations] – you must act immediately. (My emphasis)

The reader might have noticed that nowhere in this declaration is there any mention of a pending IDF ground invasion of Gaza, that the declaration is replete with religious references, that it reminds every single Muslim on earth, “You know what your duty is.” Every single Arab Muslim in Gaza, Israel and Judea and Samaria is mobilised to attack the Jews, their army and their state. This leaves just one question: who are the “innocents”, the "residents of Gaza", or "the citizens of Gaza" that Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, and many in Israel are so concerned not to harm as the IDF goes after Hamas?

“Hamas is ISIS,” say Israel’s leaders. Did any of them take note, in the dying days of the Islamic State, that Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, ISIS's No.2, famously boasted, “We would be defeated and you victorious only if you were able to remove the Qur’an from Muslims’ hearts”? In the “Holy Land,” where the three Abrahamic Faith are freely practised, there is no chance of that, even if, as General Brik warned and Hamas just instigated, Israeli Arab Muslims, you know, those peaceful citizens of Israel that most Jews are so determined to coexist with and be nice to, are intent on killing the believers in false religions as they have not killed in centuries, the Qur’an safe in their hearts.