Middle East and Terrorism: Hamas “Politicians” and Terrorists: No Difference Between Them

The Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has chosen terrorist Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 atrocities against thousands of Israelis, as chairman of its “political bureau.” Sinwar, who has been hiding in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack, succeeds Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s former “political bureau” chairman who was killed in the Iranian capital Tehran on July 31.

Sinwar’s election shows that the political and military wings of Hamas are the same. It also demonstrates that when it comes to Islamist terrorist organizations, there is no difference between a political leader and a military leader. By electing Sinwar as its “political” leader, Hamas itself claims that it does not distinguish between a politician and a terrorist.

Has anyone ever considered referring to Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leaders of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), as the “political leaders” of their respective organizations?

Besides Haniyeh, Hamas’ “political bureau” consists of several figures such as Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Ghazi Hamad and Taher a-Nunu, who have long advocated armed struggle against Israel and glorified acts of terrorism against Israelis.

On the day of the Hamas attack on Israeli communities, these leaders held a special prayer in Haniyeh’s office in Doha, Qatar, to thank God for the crimes committed by their terrorists and thousands of “ordinary Palestinians.” These crimes resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the abduction of more than 240 others in the Gaza Strip. During the attack, Israelis and others were beheaded, raped, sexually abused, burned alive and abducted.

Moreover, Hamas’ “political” leaders have threatened, from their secure villas and offices in Qatar, to carry out new atrocities against Israelis, adding that their ultimate goal is to destroy Israel. One of them, Ghazi Hamad, said in an interview with Lebanese TV channel LBC that Hamas was prepared to repeat the October 7 massacres again and again until Israel is annihilated:

“Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must eliminate it… The flood of Al-Aqsa (the name Hamas gave to the attack) is only the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth… Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. … everything we do is justified…”

Weeks before his assassination, Haniyeh had called on Palestinians in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere to mobilize and escalate the confrontation with Israel:

“We must stand up to the (Israeli) enemy. The free Palestinian people must mobilize on all fronts – in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon… They must intensify the confrontation… to realize our plan for liberation and the return of the refugees… We must be united and united to defeat the enemy. We must close ranks with Gaza, and in all our cities and villages in the West Bank, and in the occupied lands inside (Israel).”

When Hamas speaks of “liberation,” it is referring to its stated goal of eliminating Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state, as stated in its own charter:

“Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam annihilates it, just as it annihilated others before it.”

The charter also reminds Muslims of the famous Islamic hadith:

“The Day of Judgment will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jews hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say: O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”

Note the word “Jews” and not “Israelis”. At this time, other non-Muslims are also being massacred, such as Christians in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, or the Massalit in Sudan.

The “return of refugees” refers to the Palestinian demand to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians in the hope of turning it into another Arab state where some Jews could be allowed to live as a “tolerated” minority.

Another Hamas “political” leader, Khaled Mashaal, said earlier this year that his group’s attack on Israel had revived the dream of destroying Israel and “proved that liberating Palestine from the Jordan River to the (Mediterranean) Sea is a realistic idea.” He noted that there was “almost a consensus” among Palestinians that they will not give up their rights to the land that stretches “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”

The fiery rhetoric and threats of Israel’s elimination by Hamas’ “political” leaders have not stopped some Western media outlets from describing Haniyeh as “a very moderate leader.” Reuters described Haniyeh as “outspoken” but “the most moderate face of Hamas,” while Sky News called him “the pragmatic face of Hamas.”

In response, Elon Levy, former Israeli government spokesman and former international media adviser to the President of Israel, asked:

“What is a ‘very moderate leader’ of a jihadist Islamist death cult that carried out the deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11 on October 7?”

“To the BBC, Ismail Haniyeh was ‘moderate and pragmatic’; to the rest of us, he was a monster,” commented British author and journalist Stephen Pollard. He noted that Haniyeh had recorded the following message to Palestinians from his luxurious home in Qatar: “We need the blood of the women, children and elderly of Gaza… to awaken our revolutionary spirit.”

Pollard added:

“Haniyeh was indeed a ‘moderate.’ The total number of Jews murdered by Hamas does not come close to six million. Haniyeh would not have considered this anything other than disappointing, given that he led an organization dedicated to the eradication of all Jews from the face of the earth.”

“As for pragmatism: well, he was willing to let others join Hamas in murdering Jews. On October 7, at least four other Islamist terrorist groups took part in the operation. Kudos to Haniyeh for not saving all the glory for Hamas. That’s pragmatism for the sake of the cause.”

Now that Sinwar has joined Hamas’ inner circle of “political” figures, it is reasonable to assume that he too will be labeled by the Western media as a “moderate” and “pragmatic” Palestinian leader.

What’s next? Will the Biden-Harris administration and other Western governments rush to talk to the newly elected and mass-murdering Palestinian leader about creating an independent Palestinian state that will be used by the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies, including Hamas, to destroy Israel?