Hamas and the Israeli Right
HAMAS[1] is a strategic tool for the Israeli-right and it has been known to be infested with spies, agents and infiltrators. Gershon Hacohen, a major general in reserves, said in an interview with Ynet news website on May 5, 2019, “We need to tell the truth. Netanyahu’s strategy is... turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.” Haaretz — Oct 11, 2023.
Summary: Hamas is a strategic asset for the Israeli[2] right and their long term goals of dispossessing the Palestinians of their land and property. The Israeli right love Ḥamas and prefer them over the Palestinian Authority of Maḥmood Abbas. Hamas is considered an “asset” and Abbas a “burden” “In the eyes of the Israeli right, the real threat to Israel has not been not Hamas’ violence and terrorism — the danger has always been a peace agreement with the PLO, Abbas, and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
For this reason, the intelligent, insightful and forward-looking among the Muslim leaders in the region, in consideration of preservation of life, property and land that has not yet been stolen by the occupiers, had taken a strategic road of peace, negotiations and economic welfare and stability in the region[3] in order to kill the warmongering spirit that is present among the Israeli right, various agenda-driven factions on the world stage and international arms dealers who profit from war. This would have ensured that no more land could be stolen, and the expansionist, colonialist project would have come to a standstill—with whatever has been taken to date, simply being a price to pay for the better, long-term, strategic outcome. Within this would have been tremendous preservation of life, property and land.
This contrasts with the approach of the Rāfiḍah who actively seek turmoil and revolution in Sunni Muslim lands, their conversion or reduction of their numbers, to hasten the arrival of their awaited Mahdi. To this end, they love to see turmoil and destruction in Sunni Muslim lands and work for its realisation. There is a convergence between the goals of the Rāfiḍah and the goals of the Zionists, given that what is between the Nile and the Euphrates is Sunni Islām and Sunni Muslim populations. For their awaited Mahdi to arrive, the Rāfiḍah need turmoil and revolution in Sunni Muslim lands, and to this end, they inwardly delight when Jewish Zionists wrestle control from Sunni Muslims and dispossess them of their lands. The Rāfiḍah explicitly state that whereas Jews are original disbelievers, Sunni Muslims are hypocrites, apostates and usurpers (of religious and political authority), and therefore more evil. Shīʿism is fundamentally and principally a revolution and a doctrine of revenge against Sunni Islām. Upon that, they prefer the Jews and they consider Jews to be better than Sunni Muslims. For this reason, one should not be deceived by any apparent conflict between them, for their goals converge and history has taught us that the Rāfiḍah are treacherous.
All people of sound intelligence can see that the approach (mentioned earlier above) is a better outcome than being carpet-bombed, displaced and being dispossessed of whatever remains of land, all of this being justified under the guise of "defeating Hamas", which was created and/or supported for this very reason in the first place.
The Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: (لَزوالُ الدُّنيا أهونُ على اللهِ من قتلِ رجلٍ مسلم) “The ending of the whole world is lighter to Allāh than the killing of a Muslim.”[4] The world is magnified in the hearts of people, due to their love of it, however it is worth less to Allāh than the life of a Muslim. For this reason, those who do actions that they know full well, will lead to the slaughter of thousands of Muslims, knowing from repeat past experience that this is the inevitable outcome behind such actions, then they will have tremendous burdens on their shoulders on the Day of Judgement.
This is what great scholars such as Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) pointed out decades ago, that when these groups kill one or two Jews, or attack a bus and the likes, tens or hundreds, if not thousands of Palestinians are killed or injured in return. This to all people of intelligence—save the domesticated asses among the Takfīrī Khārijites—is respect and veneration of the sanctity of life and it is pure wisdom in the given circumstances.
See also: Ikhwani Hamas Leaders, Ismael Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, Paying Respect at the Wathan (Idol) of al-Khomeini And also: Israeli Roots of Hamas Are Being Exposed (2002 Executive Intelligence Review article)
It should be made clear that the Palestinians have a legitimate right to resist occupation, ethnic-cleansing and genocide. As our scholars have said, they do not know of a people more resilient and patient than them, so our supplications are with them, and we ask Allāh to grant them relief and aid against hate-filled, racist, genocidal, child and baby-killers who openly announce, boast and celebrate that they they are, in their eyes, wiping out “Amalek”. However, the Palestinian people are very sadly, victims of power-plays where various leaderships (secular and Islamic), and their external influencers and backers set the agendas.
Benjamin Netanhyahu. PM of Israel: Bolster Hamas and Transfer Money to Them to Thwart Palestinian State (2019)
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” he told a meeting of his Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019. “This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Haaretz: "His life’s work was to turn the ship of state from the course steered by his predecessors, from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Olmert, and make the two-state solution impossible. En route to this goal, he found a partner in Hamas."
Haaretz — Oct 9, 2023
Israeli Party Leader: "Hamas is a Strategic Asset" (2015)
Bezalel Smotrich, leader of Israel’s Religious Zionist Party:
The P.A. is a liability and Hamas is an asset.
On the international playing field, in this game of the delegitimization think about for a second, the P.A. is a liability and Hamas is an asset. It’s a terrorist organization. Nobody will recognize it, nobody will give it status at the ICC and nobody will let them push resolutions at the UN and they’ll need an American veto or we won’t need one.
I’m not sure at all that given the current situation given the current facts that the central playing field we’re playing in is international there Abu Mazen (Abbas) is costing us serious casualties and Hamas in such a situation would be an asset. I don’t think we need to be afraid of that [Hamas taking over].
Twitter — May 18, 2021
The Israeli right is now openly saying it wants to keep Hamas in power (2019)
As the latest round of fighting in Gaza and southern Israel died down, it became clear that keeping Hamas in power has become a central tenet of the Israeli right.
In the eyes of the right today, every Israeli patriot must wholeheartedly support the Hamas regime in Gaza. Leftist traitors, they say, support the possibility that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules over the West Bank, take control of the Gaza Strip, bringing Israel closer to the “pit of the two-state solution,” as right-wing pundit and former IDF Major-General Gershon Hacohen put it.
The policy of “separating” the West Bank from Gaza isn’t new. It began in the late 1980s, with various prime ministers — from Yitzhak Rabin to Netanyahu — finding ways to make it more sophisticated it over the years. Now comes the reasoning behind the separation. No longer are we dealing solely with the question of ostensible security benefits that result in severing Gaza from the West Bank. Today, Hamas’ rule has added value, and maintaining its regime justifies Israeli civilian casualties (Palestinian lives, of course, don’t matter). In order to keep Hamas on its feet, writes Distal Abtaryan, Netanyahu is willing to pay “an almost inconceivable price — half the country paralyzed, children and parents in post-trauma, bombed houses, people killed.”
Why is Netanyahu willing to pay this price? The answer is simple: “Every home needs a balcony, and Israel is a home,” writes Distal Abtaryan, “the balcony of this home is Samaria… if Hamas crumbles, Mahmoud Abbas may rule the strip. If he rules it, voices on the left will encourage negotiations, a political settlement, and a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria as well… this is the real reason Netanyahu doesn’t annihilate Hamas, everything else is bullshit.”
Erez Tadmor, one of the founders of the far-right Im Tirzu movement and who headed Likud’s information campaign in the last elections, struck a similar tone on Twitter. “The split between Abbas’ Judea and Samaria and Hamas’ Gaza is optimal for Israel,” he tweeted after the ceasefire was announced. “When necessary, we can strike Hamas in Gaza and not be forced to withdraw to the Auschwitz borders in Judea and Samaria,” Tadmore wrote.
Yonatana Orich, who managed Likud’s campaign alongside Tadmor and is one of Netanyahu’s closest advisors, made similar remarks. “He (Netanyahu – M.R.) succeeded in disconnecting between Gaza and Judea and Samaria, and effectively shattered the vision of a Palestinian state in these two areas. Part of the achievement is linked to the Qatari money that comes to Hamas every month,” he explained in an interview to Makor Rishon before the latest round of fighting erupted.
Netanyahu’s supporters on the right aren’t alone. Although MK Betzalel Smotrich, who may soon become a minister, expressed disappointment over the fact that Israel did not kill 700 Palestinians — in retaliation for every rocket fired from Gaza — back in 2015 he called Hamas an “asset” and Abbas a “burden.”
In an interview with right-wing news website Mida, Gershon Hacohen, known for his criticism of Netanyahu from the right, explained that by refraining from taking down Hamas, Netanyahu “prevented Abbas’ plot to establish a united Palestinian state. We need to take advantage of the situation of separation between Gaza and Ramallah. This is a top Israeli interest, and it is impossible to understand the campaign in Gaza without understanding this context.”
As opposed to Netanyahu’s admirers, Hacohen is aware that support for Hamas is a trap for Israel. “Hamas created, with the threat of rockets, a difficult equation that cannot be denied,” he admitted. “Each day of rockets paralyzing the country carries heavy financial costs. That is why Hamas can cause us to prefer considerations of containment, because the price we pay is high.” Hacohen supports a severe response to Hamas but worries that such a response would be too successful. “To avoid a situation in which we have defeated Hamas but have fallen into the pit of a two-state solution,” he said, “we must, first of all, regulate control over Area C and stop the attempts of the PA to take over other areas under the auspices of the European Union.” First we annex, then we topple Hamas.
In the eyes of the Israeli right, the real threat to Israel is not Hamas’ violence and terrorism — the danger is a peace agreement with the PLO, Abbas, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. In the struggle against this danger, Hamas is viewed as an almost ideological partner. It, too, opposes Abbas, and has no interest in the PA ruling Gaza. That is why whatever strengthens Hamas is good for Israel, and whatever weakens it is bad for Israel.
An Israel that wants to continue its occupation of the West Bank will want to continue to stand on the balcony and gaze at the Palestinians from above.
972 Mag — May 12, 2019
Wikileaks cable: Israeli intelligence chief encouraged Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip (2010)
In the latest revelation to come out of the hundreds of thousands of leaked diplomatic cables provided by the website ‘Wikileaks’, a diplomatic exchange between then Israeli Director of Military Intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, and US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones showed Israeli support for a Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip which Israel could then declare Gaza to be a ‘hostile entity’.
IMEMC News — 22 December 2010
Israel gave major aid to Hamas (2001)
Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.
Even then, some in Israel saw some benefits to be had in trying to continue to give Hamas support: "The thinking on the part of some of the right-wing Israeli establishment was that Hamas and the other groups, if they gained control, would refuse to have anything to do with the pace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place," said a U.S. government official.
UPI — Feb. 24, 2001
Footnotes
1. It is important to note that Hamas does not represent all Palestinians and among the Palestinians and among those who resist occupation are those who reject the Rāfiḍah, and do not want the support of Iran and its proxies, because they are heretics and are known to slaughter and butcher Sunnis, as they did in Iraq and Syria.2. The word Isrāʾīl is a title for Yaʿqūb (عليه السلام) and means “Slave of ʾĪl”, equivalent to ʿAbd Allāh, “Slave of Allāh”. It is a title of nobility and honour. The scholars of the Muslims prohibit the use of the phrase “State of Israel” as this is dishonour to Yaʿqūb (عليه السلام) and because it is not a state of Banī Isrāʾīl, but of those who call themselves Jews, hence it is a Jewish state. Even then, the state was financed and set up by the Rothschilds. Many Jews reject this state, considering it in violation of the Torah, they consider the Zionist project a heresy and are vehemently anti-Zionist. However, their differences with the Zionists are regarding the means, not the end goal or outcome.
3. Time-limited or open-ended treaties are permitted in Islām and it is permissible for Muslim rulers to negotiate and enter into such treaties. However, these are not to be permanent and should be revokable.
4. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr (no. 5077).