Saturday, October 7, 2023, a day that will live in Jewish infamy, was when Gaza terrorists conducted unspeakable horrors, blatant war crimes, and crimes against humanity against Israeli civilians.
The motive for the cold-blooded murder of over 1,300 Israelis is crystal clear: a fanatical desire, rooted in Muslim religious beliefs and buttressed by fake history, to exterminate the Jews of Israel.
This is no histrionic conjecture. As the 1988 Hamas Charter says:
“The Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam … strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine [the State of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza] …. The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part or abandon it or any part of it. Palestine is an Islamic land…. The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them.”
In practical terms, had there been no resistance to the Oct. 7 invasion, all 7.1 million Jews living in Israel would have been systematically executed Holocaust-style.
Though few of Israel’s supporters could ever envision such a horrific outcome, Arab masses across the globe support a ‘ceasefire’ they know will prevent the defeat of Hamas, thereby allowing more such heinous attacks on Jews, eventually leading to a final solution to the Jewish question.
The Arab street’s Middle Eastern leaders, especially those who have sought normalization with Israel via the Abraham Accords, have trod a fine line by refraining from blaming Israel for the Oct. 7 attack.
This still leaves the Palestine faction of the “Arab street” at the forefront of the vilification of Israel.
Only the blindest observer could ever claim that the countless organized public demonstrations around the world since Oct. 7 are aimed at encouraging a just and lasting resolution to the current conflict that would be acceptable to its combatants.
The words on the banners displayed and slogans uttered – “from the river to the sea,” “Palestine lives matter,” “Israel = racism and apartheid” – prove this.
“From the river to the sea” is particularly provocative because it rejects a two-state solution, for the Jews and one for the Palestinians – for a single Judenrein (“free of Jews”) Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
“Palestine lives matter” means Jewish ones don’t.
Saying Israel is racist and based on apartheid denies that its large Arab population enjoys freedom and prosperity denied to their brethren elsewhere in the region.
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,“ Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, nor their legitimate aspirations. They do not speak for Muslim or Arab communities, and they do not represent the better futures that Palestinians or their children deserve.” This is a sentiment expressed by other leaders like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden.
Tell that to the thousands of protesters who joyfully celebrated the Oct. 7 attack throughout the Middle East and Western world, including Canada.
Tell that to the Palestinian pollsters who recently found radical Islamic groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad were viewed as “the best thing that happened to the Palestinian people since 1948.”
The poll also showed low Palestinian support for a two-state solution: approval 28%; rejection 70%. One state with no Jews is what most Palestinians yearn for.
Likewise, it was found that 52% of Palestinians believed armed struggle against Israel is the most effective means to end an “occupation” (that officially ended in Gaza in 2005) and build a Palestinian state. Twenty-one percent claimed they supported achieving these goals through negotiations, while 22% preferred “popular resistance,” a close synonym for armed struggle.
While some Gazans at home and abroad despise Hamas, it is false to claim, “Hamas is not Gaza, and Gaza is not Hamas.”
When Palestinians, whether members of Hamas or not, say they consider killing Jews their religious duty, as has been repeatedly expressed or implied since Oct. 7, do not doubt them.
Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report and a retired professor of anthropology at the University of Manitoba.
