The Brotherhood: America's Next Great Enemy (20 page)
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Authors: Erick Stakelbeck
Tags: #Political Science / Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism
BOOK: The Brotherhood: America's Next Great Enemy
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Crystal clear and to the point. But in case you’re still not convinced, here’s another Hamas ode to the Brother-ship, from Article Seven of the Charter:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one link in the chain of jihad in confronting the Zionist invasion. It is connected and linked to the [courageous] uprising of the martyr ’Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam and his brethren the jihad fighters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the year 1936. It is further related and connected to another link, [namely] the jihad of the Palestinians, the efforts and jihad of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1948 war, and the jihad operations of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1968 and afterwards.
Although these links are far apart, and although the continuity of jihad was interrupted by obstacles placed in the path of the jihad fighters by those who circle in the orbit of Zionism, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him, says: “The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.” (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim).
4
[emphasis added]
Again, we see that Hamas’s founders were explicitly clear from the outset about who and what they were: namely, the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. By including the infamous “Hadith of the Gharqad Tree and the Jews” in their charter, they also left no doubts about what they planned to accomplish: the establishment of a Palestinian Islamic emirate in place of Israel,
Judenrein
and governed by sharia. Indeed, the entire Hamas Charter is rife with calls to genocide against the Jews interspersed with plenty of theological ammo in the form of anti-Semitic Koranic verses and hadiths. There is also a healthy dose of conspiracy theories (including a shout-out to
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
, an infamous anti-Semitic forgery), and Muslims worldwide are encouraged to join the Palestinians in their jihad against Israel. Because, according to the Charter:
Judenrein
and governed by sharia. Indeed, the entire Hamas Charter is rife with calls to genocide against the Jews interspersed with plenty of theological ammo in the form of anti-Semitic Koranic verses and hadiths. There is also a healthy dose of conspiracy theories (including a shout-out to
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
, an infamous anti-Semitic forgery), and Muslims worldwide are encouraged to join the Palestinians in their jihad against Israel. Because, according to the Charter:
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
5
That statement, not coincidentally, is the mirror image of another that is included in the Charter, on its very first page. It is from none other than the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, Hassan al-Banna:
“Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it.”The martyr, Imam Hasan al-Banna’, Allah’s mercy be upon him.
6
We see, once again, that the Islamic Resistance Movement has inarguably followed the genocidal lead of its parent organization, the Ikhwan, from the very outset. Hence, twenty-five years of Hamas suicide bombings, rockets, missiles, and mayhem against the Jewish state have led, according to an estimate by the Council on Foreign Relations, to over five hundred deaths in more than 350 separate attacks since 1993 alone.
7
The dead include citizens from several countries including, among others, the UK, China, Romania, Ukraine, Sweden, and yes, America. As of early 2013, at least fifty-three U.S. citizens had been killed and eighty-three more wounded in Palestinian terror attacks over a twenty-year span.
8
Many of these casualties—which include American tourists, students, and expatriates living in Israel or areas under Palestinian control—have been inflicted by Hamas.
7
The dead include citizens from several countries including, among others, the UK, China, Romania, Ukraine, Sweden, and yes, America. As of early 2013, at least fifty-three U.S. citizens had been killed and eighty-three more wounded in Palestinian terror attacks over a twenty-year span.
8
Many of these casualties—which include American tourists, students, and expatriates living in Israel or areas under Palestinian control—have been inflicted by Hamas.
In his comprehensive book,
Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad
, terrorism expert Matthew Levitt—a former high-ranking analyst at both the Department of the Treasury and the FBI—details the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s long reign of terror:
Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad
, terrorism expert Matthew Levitt—a former high-ranking analyst at both the Department of the Treasury and the FBI—details the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s long reign of terror:
Since its founding in 1987, Hamas has committed countless acts of violence against both military and civilian targets, including suicide and other bombings and Qassam rocket, mortar fire and shooting attacks. In its early years Hamas conducted small-scale attacks like the 1989 abductions and murders of Israeli soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sa’adon. But the group is best known for its suicide bombing attacks. Between February 1989 and March 2000 Hamas carried out at least twenty-seven attacks, including twelve suicide bombings and three failed bombings. These attacks caused approximately 185 deaths and left over 1,200 people wounded.With the onset of the second Intifada in September 2000, the pace of Hamas attacks increased dramatically. From September 29, 2000, through March 24, 2004, Hamas executed 52 suicide attacks, killing 288 people and wounding 1,646 more. In total, Hamas conducted 425 terrorist attacks during this period, killing 377 people, and wounding 2,076.Hamas attacks increased throughout this period. In 2003 alone, Hamas was responsible for 218 acts of violence. That figure more than doubled in 2004, in which Hamas carried out 555 terrorist attacks. Also in 2004, Hamas mortar attacks increased by 500 percent and its Qassam rocket attacks increased by 40 percent compared to the previous year.
9
Hamas’s culture of death is driven by indoctrination that extends virtually from womb to tomb. From earliest childhood, Hamas teaches its adherents the Koran-mandated necessity of destroying Israel; the inferiority and inherent evil of the Jewish people in particular and non-Muslims generally; the glories of martyrdom and suicide attacks and the abundant rewards in the afterlife for those who sacrifice their lives for Allah. If you live in Gaza, these points are bombarded into your brain all day, every day on Hamas television (including in cartoons and children’s programming), in schools, in mosques, in billboards, in murals and posters that adorn neighborhoods, and in parades honoring each new suicide bomber or “martyr.” The ceaseless calls to genocide are inescapable. Hamas even holds summer camps in Gaza where boys under the age of fourteen engage in paramilitary training.
10
This is standard stuff in Hamas-stan. Remember, these are the folks who first brought you the pleasant images of camouflage-clad three-year-olds brandishing assault weapons and wearing mock suicide vests at Gaza rallies. Muslim Brothers worldwide help perpetuate the madness by providing tons of ideological, logistical, and financial support to their Hamas comrades.
10
This is standard stuff in Hamas-stan. Remember, these are the folks who first brought you the pleasant images of camouflage-clad three-year-olds brandishing assault weapons and wearing mock suicide vests at Gaza rallies. Muslim Brothers worldwide help perpetuate the madness by providing tons of ideological, logistical, and financial support to their Hamas comrades.
Despite the continuing daily onslaught of pro-jihad brainwashing, the number of Hamas suicide bombers has decreased dramatically since 2006—thanks to Israel’s construction of a security barrier in and around Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria (known to the “international community” as the West Bank) from which many of the bombers originated. The constant barrage of Hamas rockets from Gaza into Israel, however, continued unabated until December 2008, when Israel initiated Operation Cast Lead. Some nine thousad rockets fired from Gaza had struck southern Israel over a seven-year period prior to Cast Lead.
11
This month-long Israeli military campaign succeeded in weakening Hamas and curtailing its ability to target Israel. But it did not stop the rocket attacks out of Gaza altogether. In fact, Hamas rockets continued to hammer Israeli towns and cities on a regular basis until November 2012, when Israel was forced to conduct another operation, called “Pillar of Defense,” that severely weakened Hamas’s launching capabilities and eliminated its top military commander in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari.
11
This month-long Israeli military campaign succeeded in weakening Hamas and curtailing its ability to target Israel. But it did not stop the rocket attacks out of Gaza altogether. In fact, Hamas rockets continued to hammer Israeli towns and cities on a regular basis until November 2012, when Israel was forced to conduct another operation, called “Pillar of Defense,” that severely weakened Hamas’s launching capabilities and eliminated its top military commander in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari.
Just one week after Operation Pillar of Defense ended, I was given an on-the-ground tour of Israel’s border with Gaza by the Israeli military and briefed on the multi-faceted and evolving threat posed by Hamas. I also spent a day talking to shell-shocked but resilient residents in the Israeli city of Sderot, just a mile from the Gaza border. Sderot has lost some 25 percent of its population over the past decade due to the constant rocket barrages.
12
Close to half of the city’s children under the age of six suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as do more than a third of their parents.
13
Their precarious existence is overwhelmingly the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s handiwork. During a previous stay in Sderot, I paid a visit to police headquarters, where the shells of some of the thousands of rockets that have struck Sderot over the years are famously displayed as a reminder to the world of the tiny city’s struggle for survival. President Obama visited there, too, in June 2008, just prior to his election. In between photo ops and empty promises to stand with Israel, he might have noticed that the largest rockets on display were labeled not in Arabic, but Farsi—the language of Iran. Indeed, the Iranian regime has long served as Hamas’s largest supplier of funds—to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year—as well as terror training and weaponry.
14
12
Close to half of the city’s children under the age of six suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as do more than a third of their parents.
13
Their precarious existence is overwhelmingly the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s handiwork. During a previous stay in Sderot, I paid a visit to police headquarters, where the shells of some of the thousands of rockets that have struck Sderot over the years are famously displayed as a reminder to the world of the tiny city’s struggle for survival. President Obama visited there, too, in June 2008, just prior to his election. In between photo ops and empty promises to stand with Israel, he might have noticed that the largest rockets on display were labeled not in Arabic, but Farsi—the language of Iran. Indeed, the Iranian regime has long served as Hamas’s largest supplier of funds—to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year—as well as terror training and weaponry.
14
For years, Hamas, along with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, formed the so-called Middle East “resistance bloc” devoted to Israel’s destruction. The relationship between Hamas and Iran, however, became strained due to the Syrian Civil War, which saw Hamas vacate its Damascus headquarters and publicly side with the Muslim Brotherhood–dominated Syrian rebels against the regime. This defied the mullahs in Tehran, who were trying desperately to prop up their proxy, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Despite the friction and Hamas’s logical decision to move more closely into the orbit of Egypt and the other rising Muslim Brotherhood governments in the region, Iran continues to provide money and weapons to the Gaza regime. For now, at least, eliminating the “Zionist entity” must take precedence over any petty, intra-jihadi disputes.
The Iranians are also the primary bankrollers and facilitators of the Gaza-based terror group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. PIJ is yet another violent Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, founded by former Ikhwan members in the late 1970s with the goal of—you guessed it—wiping Israel off the map. To that end, PIJers have engaged in dozens of suicide and car bombings and launched an untold number of rockets against the Jewish State through the years. They’ve also been known to coordinate terrorist activities with Hamas. Tellingly, three months after 9/11, operatives from the two groups released a joint statement warning that “Americans are the enemies of the Palestinian people” and “are a target of future attacks.”
15
That might help explain the 2003 roadside bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza, which killed three American security guards. It’s still unclear which terror faction is responsible for that attack, but it’s a safe bet that one or both of the Ikhwan’s Palestinian offshoots had more than a casual involvement in its planning and execution.
15
That might help explain the 2003 roadside bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza, which killed three American security guards. It’s still unclear which terror faction is responsible for that attack, but it’s a safe bet that one or both of the Ikhwan’s Palestinian offshoots had more than a casual involvement in its planning and execution.
Hamas may have been weakened by Operations Cast Lead and Pillar of Defense, but with the help of hundreds of millions of dollars provided annually in weapons and funding from jihadist sponsors like Iran, the group is steadily rearming in the belief that the final showdown with the hated Jews is not far off. It knows no other way. Hamas leaders have spent a quarter of a century working diligently to fulfill the genocidal aims of their charter, with the enthusiastic support of their Muslim Brothers around the world. Not a single word of Hamas’s 1988 charter has been altered, even though Hamas now has responsibility for governing 1.7 million people in Gaza. In other words, forget the liberal pipe dream, heard most recently during the so-called Arab Spring, that Islamist parties will become moderate and pragmatic once in power. For Hamas to change would mean a complete repudiation of its founding motto (included in Article Eight of its Charter), which reads:
Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model to be followed, the Koran its constitution, Jihad its way, and death for the sake of Allah its loftiest desire.
16
Now, where have we heard that pleasant little jingle before? If I’m not mistaken, it is virtually identical to the founding motto of another notorious, Jew-hating Islamist group:
Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.
That, as you may recall, is the official creed of the Muslim Brotherhood—and despite supposedly rejecting violence today, the MB, like its Hamas offspring, has never altered its violent credo.
While Hamas certainly maintains a degree of independence, it has never severed its ties with the Brothers. It remains firmly in the MB camp and functions openly as one of the Ikhwan’s many satellites worldwide, coordinating its activities with Egyptian Brotherhood leaders in Cairo—which means, in turn, that the Brotherhood has
never
abandoned violence. The organization has merely become shrewder about when and where to use it. What works for Hamas, MB’s branch in the Palestinian territories, might not work for MB branches in Egypt or Morocco. The jihad option is always there, if needed, as has been the case in the Palestinian territories, or the Brotherhood can rely on propaganda and incitement.
never
abandoned violence. The organization has merely become shrewder about when and where to use it. What works for Hamas, MB’s branch in the Palestinian territories, might not work for MB branches in Egypt or Morocco. The jihad option is always there, if needed, as has been the case in the Palestinian territories, or the Brotherhood can rely on propaganda and incitement.
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