RUTHFULLY YOURS

In many respects, Hamas, the Iran-backed terror group, has always been more forthright and honest about its goals regarding Israel than its rivals in the Palestinian Authority (PA). When one listens to leaders of the PA and the leaders of Hamas in Arabic, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them. Their rhetoric, for instance, to vilify Israel, is identical: “The Zionist Enemy”, “the Zionist Entity”, the State of Occupation”, and “the Apartheid State”.

Hamas and the PA both view the establishment of Israel as a “catastrophe” (nakba) and call for flooding it with millions of Palestinian “refugees” so that Jews become a minority to eliminate or cast out.

Hamas makes clear to everyone that its primary goal is to wage jihad (holy war) against Israel with the intention of replacing it with an Islamist state. The terror group’s covenant proudly quotes Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, as stating: “Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

In mid-May, the PA and Hamas marked the 77th anniversary of “Nakba Day” (“Catastrophe Day”), a reference to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Hamas, in a statement, said:

“The occupation [Israel] has no legitimacy or sovereignty over any part of our occupied land, and our people will continue to themselves through comprehensive resistance until the liberation of all of Palestine.”

The terror group vowed that the “resistance” against Israel will continue until Palestinian refugees achieve the “right of return” to their former homes inside Israel.

Most of the so-called refugees are not real refugees. Most are descendants — now quite distant — of refugees who lost their homes when five Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948 in an attempt to prevent it from coming into existence. For Hamas and other Palestinians and Arabs, the fact that they failed to thwart the establishment of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people is a “catastrophe.”

The real nakba was that they started a war and lost it. Well, if you start a war, that is what can happen.

The PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, share Hamas’s view. In a speech marking “Nakba Day,” Abbas, bizarrely referred to by some Westerners as a “moderate leader” even though he handsomely pays his people to murder Jews, described the establishment of Israel as a “tragedy” and as “the catastrophe of catastrophes.”

Like Hamas, Abbas called for flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian “refugees”:

“On behalf of the steadfast Palestinian people, and in the name of more than 15 million Palestinians, including seven million Palestinian refugees, we renew our pledge that we will remain adherent to our rights and will continue our legitimate struggle for freedom and independence until they are realized. Today, we commemorate not only this somber anniversary, but renew the pledge that the Nakba was not and will not be the permanent and inevitable fate of our people, and that the right of return, the right to self-determination, and the independence of the Palestinian State are steady and inalienable rights and will not be forsaken by our people.”

Such statements by Hamas and Abbas show why the talk about a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is, unfortunately, just a sick joke. If the Palestinians consider the establishment and existence of Israel a “catastrophe” and “tragedy,” this means that they have not – and will not – recognize Israel’s right to exist.

By demanding the “right of return” for so-called refugees, Hamas and Abbas are clearly stating their intention to turn Israel into a country with an Arab Muslim majority. In this country, perhaps for a price – required Arab jizya payments are actually protection money — some Jews might be allowed to live on sufferance, as dhimmis, tolerated residents of a land conquered by Islam.

Those who continue to advocate for the creation of a Palestinian state need to consider that such a state would be backed, politically and militarily, by Iran and its ruling mullahs, whose declared goal is to eliminate the “Zionist entity” Israel, as well as the United States.

As Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has stated about the “Little Satan”: “‘Death to Israel’ is not just a slogan, it is a policy.” The same goes for the “Great Satan” and “Death to America.”

In the years leading up to its invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, Hamas developed a concrete plan to destroy the Jewish state, in full coordination with Iran and its Lebanon-based terror proxy, Hezbollah. According to classified documents published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Iran was a critical player in funding Hamas’s plan to destroy Israel.

On May 15, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reminded us, once again, that in his view, as he posted on X: “The Zionist regime is illegitimate, and the formation of this regime was based on a false premise.” He is actually repeating what he knows is the false claim that Jews have no religious, emotional or historical attachment to their homeland.

His post came on the occasion of “Nakba Day.” Many Arabs and Muslims, including Khamenei, continue to dream of the day when they would be able to destroy it. They do not conceal their support for the use of violence to achieve this goal. Furthermore, they never conceal their hatred for the “Little Satan” Israel, and the “Great Satan”, the U.S.

On May 4, Khamenei wrote:

“When we, the Muslim Ummah [nation], are detached from each other, the colonial powers – the US, the Zionist regime, and some European and non-European countries – impose their own interests over the interests of other nations.”

Iran’s supreme leader is telling Arabs and Muslims that they must unite to confront not only Israel, but also the US and other non-Muslims.

In another post on May 15, Khamenei wrote:

“Palestinian political, military and cultural fight should continue until those [Jews] who have usurped Palestine submit to the vote of the Palestinian nation.”

For Iran’s mullahs, the “military fight” means unleashing terrorism against Israel by their Palestinian, Lebanese, and Yemeni terror proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

In the context of his anti-US rhetoric and policy, Khamenei recently scoffed at US President Donald J. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and his talk about achieving peace and prosperity. “Trump said he wants to use power for peace,” Khamenei wrote on May 17:

“Some of the remarks made during the US President’s trip to the region aren’t even worth a response at all. The level of those remarks is so low that they are a source of shame for the American nation.”

He later added:

“Trump said he wants to use power for peace. He’s lying.”

The Trump administration should beware of countries where the mouth says one thing but the legs do the opposite. Believe the legs. The Iranians and Palestinians have not given up their dream of eliminating Israel and America.

The Trump administration also should realize that Palestinian and Iranian leaders tell Westerners one thing — what they like to hear — in English, while addressing their people with completely different messages in Arabic and Farsi. Believe the Arabic and Farsi.

Mahmoud Abbas has long been telling Westerners about his desire to make peace and establish a Palestinian state next to Israel; at the same time, he keeps calling for Israel’s destruction.

Iran’s leaders do the same thing. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reassures Americans that “We are not seeking war, we favor negotiation and dialogue.” Meanwhile, Khamenei calls for the elimination of the “Zionist regime” and endorses “Death to America.”

The Palestinians and Iran’s mullahs believe that Americans and most Westerners are gullible enough to unreservedly swallow any lie – they so often have in the past.

It is time for the Trump administration and other Westerners to see that the Palestinians and the Iranian regime do not want Israel or America in the Middle East — period — and are prepared to do anything to achieve this goal, including with nuclear weapons.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.