Arab Journalists: Hamas Committed Heinous Crimes That Contradict Islam; It Must Admit Its Mistake And End The War; It's Time The Palestinians Got Rid Of It

Memri

a day ago

Arab journalists and writers recently published many articles that condemn Hamas for carrying out its October 7 attack without considering the deadly consequences for the Gazans and while using them as human shields. They call the attack a capricious adventure that stemmed from the arrogance and miscalculation of Hamas's leaders, and urge this movement to admit that the attack was a strategic mistake. They also state that the barbaric crimes committed by Hamas on October 7 against Israeli civilians, which included rape, abduction and the murder of children and elders, contravene international law, as well as the values of Islam, which Hamas purports to uphold.
The articles claim further that, in siding with Iran and turning its back on the Arabs, Hamas harmed the Palestinian cause and lost the ability to rule Gaza. Castigating this movement for waving hollow slogans of victory while the Gazans are mired in destruction, they exhort the Palestinians to get rid of the "sick" Hamas leaders who trade in blood and elect a new leadership that sanctifies life and aspires to peace and prosperity.
These articles join the extensive criticism voiced against Hamas in the Arab world since the October 7 attack.[1]
Armed members of Hamas (Image: Eremnews.com, April 10, 2025)
The following are translated excerpts from these recent articles.
Editor Of Egyptian Daily: The October 7 Attack Caused A Regional Tsunami And Doomed Gaza To Destruction
Dandrawi Al-Hawary, acting editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi, which is close to the Egyptian regime, criticized Hamas, without explicitly naming it, for carrying out the October 7 attack without thinking ahead or considering its consequences for the people of Gaza and the region at large.
He wrote: "It's puzzling that the people who pounce like predators on anyone who tends to employ reason in assessing and analyzing the October 7 attack, which [Hamas] calls the Al-Aqsa Flood… think that it was a great victory and that it advanced the Palestinian cause more than any of the previous rounds of war, resistance and negotiations over many decades! I ask these people: What is the meaning of victory? The simplest rule-of-thumb definition is [something that] changes reality on the ground, far from any wild fantasies and optimistic dreams. If we apply this definition to the Al-Aqsa Flood, we see that it [definitely] changed the reality, but in a frightening way. It drowned the region in a deadly tsunami that destroyed Gaza, harmed Al-Sham [i.e., Syria and Lebanon] and Iran, and placed the Arab Mashreq [i.e., the Middle East] and the Maghreb between the hammer and the anvil. [Moreover,] it gave the [Arab] nation's main enemy, Israel, an opportunity to be perceived as a military power capable of imposing its will by force, an image that the great Egyptian army shattered with its victory in October 1973…
"The dangerous consequences of this Flood are also evident in current statements of the Israeli government, which says that 'Israel is acting to change the strategic reality in the Middle East.'
"The Al-Aqsa Flood was indeed a flood. Whoever chose the name definitely achieved his goal of drowning [us]. This operation indeed drowned the region: it threatened its map by either eliminating [borders] or dividing [countries], and opened the gates of hell, [allowing] countries to be extorted and forced into a reality that contradicts the [Arab] nation's interests, harms its sovereignty and minimizes its role!
"As I have contended and noted in the past,… it is dangerous to take arrogant decisions without any planning or forethought. I have also stressed that, before causing a flood it's advisable to build some ships. We should take a lesson from the prophet Noah, who took hundreds of years to build an ark in order to save humanity.
"The important lesson to be learned from the October 7 [attack] is the need to be mindful and conscious of the fact that the ideology of the political Islam of the [Muslim] Brotherhood [Hamas' parent organization]… takes nihilistic and destructive decisions for [our] homelands and imposes these decisions on all of us."[2]
Palestinian Journalist: Hamas Conducts Military Activity In Hospitals And Thus Endangers People's Lives
In an article that was published on the Saudi news website Elaph and in the Emirati daily Al-Arab, Palestinian journalist Abd Al-Bari Fayyad, who frequently criticizes Hamas in his articles, wrote that this movement uses civilian facilities as shields for its military activity, which is a violation of international law and turns the Gazan civilians into "fuel for the war":
"In Gaza, which is groaning under the burden of the conflict, bitter facts are exposed that cast a heavy pall over the concept of humanity and redefine the principles of modern warfare…
"Intelligence revealed in the recent period indicates that senior Hamas leaders, form Muhammad Sinwar to Muhammad Shabana,[3] spent long periods in a tunnel that was excavated beneath the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. The presence of these leaders in this location was no coincidence, but clearly reflects a deliberate strategy of using an unmistakable civilian facility – a hospital – as cover for [Hamas's] military activity. A hospital, a sanctuary for the sick and the injured, which is supposed to be immune to the ravages of war, becomes a pivotal military site, thus placing innocent people, patients and medical staff in direct danger.
"The decision to operate from within a densely-populated civilian area is not random; it is a calculated tactic designed to achieve a double objective. First, this location provides ideal cover for military movements and operations, while exploiting the immunity granted by international law to medical facilities. Second, [this tactic] forces civilians to serve as human shields, which complicates the military response of the other side [i.e., Israel], enrages international public opinion and generates intensive pressure on the warring sides. This tactic is not a new feature of Hamas's strategy; it has been documented in numerous reports and constitutes a flagrant violation of the most basic principles of international humanitarian law…
"The lives of the civilians become a daily hell, for they live under incessant bombing and in permanent fear of death that pursues them everywhere. Trust in the institutions that are meant to provide them with protection evaporates and the fabric of society unravels, which lights the fuse of [further] hatred and violence, in a vicious circle…
"Hamas will no doubt deny these allegations, or provide explanations to justify the presence of its leaders in such places. It is likely to claim that these tunnels are used for defensive purposes or that they are not part of the hospital itself. It may focus on the suffering of the Palestinian people and blame the other side for the destruction of the civilian infrastructures. However, regardless of all the excuses, the use of civilian facilities – and especially hospitals – as cover for military activities is an unforgivable breach of international law, [a breach] which causes the [Hamas] movement to lose much international sympathy.
"No one denies the right of peoples to resist occupation, but this right does not grant any faction the authority to use civilians as fuel for the war. Using hospitals and residential areas for military activities is not 'tactical wisdom' but a blatant violation of military and legal ethics that transforms the conflict from a war against the occupation into a human tragedy whose price is paid by the Gazan families that [find themselves] trapped between the hammer of the occupation and the anvil of Hamas's decisions.
"The more difficult question is this: When will the resistance [i.e., Hamas] move from the strategy of 'survival at the cost of human life' to resistance that respects the lives of those it purports to protect?"[4]
Emirati Political Analyst: Hamas Is The Reason For The Palestinians' Suffering; Its Crimes Violate The Values Of Islam
Also on the Saudi website Elaph, Emirati political analyst Salem Al-Ketbi addressed the difference between the Israeli discourse, which sanctifies life, and Hamas's discourse, which ascribes no value to the Gazans' lives and regards them as mere statistics. He also stated that, on October 7, Hamas committed crimes that contravene the values of Islam, and called on the Palestinians to do away with the "sick" Hamas leaders.
He wrote: "Amid the deadly conflict in the Gaza Strip, there is a conspicuous difference between the media discourse of the two warring sides, which reflects a discrepancy in their attitude to the value of human beings and the importance of human life. While the Israeli army, represented by its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, tries to present a discourse that distinguishes between the [Gazan] civilians and Hamas, the leaders of the terrorist Hamas use a discourse that ascribes no importance to fatalities and treats the victims as mere numbers and statistics…
"The violations of the terrorist Hamas are not confined to disparaging the lives of the Palestinians, but go much further than that. It also committed heinous crimes against Israeli civilians, including the murder of children and elderly people, the abduction of civilians and the rape of women. These barbaric acts are violations of international humanitarian law, and directly flout the basic values of human morality and the principles of Islam, which Hamas purports to uphold.
"The clear contradiction between the terrorist Hamas's claim to represent Islam and its [actual] deeds, which violate the principles of Islam, expose [its] loathsome hypocrisy and double standards…
"The moral discrepancy [between Israel and Hamas also] gives rise to grave questions regarding the legitimacy of Hamas's terrorist leaders and their ability to represent the Palestinian people. How can a leadership that disparages the blood of its people and regards the victims as mere numbers represent this people and defend its interests? These sick individuals who exploit death and trade in blood cannot be legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, which wants life, peace and honor. On the contrary, they are a heavy burden for this people and a primary cause of its ongoing suffering.
"It's time for the Palestinian people to do away with these sick leaders who disparage its blood and trade in its suffering, and choose a leadership that sanctifies human life and aspires to achieve peace and prosperity instead of investing in death and destruction."[5]
Tunisian Journalist: Islam Does Not Permit To Sacrifice The Gazans For The Sake Of Hamas's Jihad
In an article in the London-based Emirati daily Al-Arab, Tunisian journalist Mukhtar Al-Dababi wrote that the Islamic shari'a does not permit to sacrifice or endanger the lives of the Gazans, and called on Hamas to end the war in order to save lives, even at the expense of its own interests:
"Here is an important moral question:… Who issued a religious ruling allowing [Hamas] to sacrifice tens of thousands, [causing them to be] killed, injured, displaced, and starved for the sake a resistance [operation] in which several dozen Israelis were murdered and abducted?
"According to the standards of the Islamic shari'a [as we understand them] today, nothing is so vital that it that nullifies the prohibition on endangering people's lives, not even jihad. This is because the main objective of the Islamic shari'a is protecting life, which means that protecting the blood of [both] Muslims and non-Muslims is more important than anything else. A Quranic verse expresses this very clearly, stating that taking a single life is like killing all of humanity, and that saving a single soul is like saving all of humanity.
"What Hamas is doing today is futile. It should have understood this earlier, after everything that happened to Hizbullah, which is a larger and better-equipped [organization], instead of leaving it up to time and circumstances and betting on its Arab depth, official or popular, [i.e., on the help of the Arab states or peoples]… Today there is just some applause from helpless elites, while Israel continues to be supported by its Western depth, especially by the Americans…
"Hamas should hurry up and take the opportunity to negotiate, in order to reach an immediate solution and save lives, even if this comes at the expense of the movement and its outward image…"[6]
Editor of Saudi Daily: Hamas's October 7 Attack And Alliance With Iran Gravely Harmed The Palestinian Cause
Khaled Bin Hamad Al-Malik, editor of the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, slammed the Palestinian factions, and especially Hamas, for turning their backs on the Arabs and joining Iran, and for misjudging the consequences of the October 7 attack and severely undermining the Palestinian cause. He wrote: "Several Palestinian factions, such as Hamas, the [Palestinian Islamic] Jihad and others, staged a coup against the Palestinian Authority and took over the Gaza Strip. [They also] collaborated with Iran while turning their backs on the Arabs, and even used their media and mosques in Gaza to hurl false accusations and the worst kind of invective at the Arab countries, especially at the [Saudi] kingdom and the Gulf states. Despite this, it was these countries that defended Palestine and the Palestinians in international forums by organizing conferences and visiting the influential powers, instead of sinking into wars that harm the Palestinian cause more than they help it, [as Hamas has done].
"[Today,] after the October 7 attack, the establishment of a Palestinian state has become a big fantasy. The Palestinian cause has clearly suffered an enormous setback, compared to its previous condition, and the Palestinians are threatened with expulsion, subjected to harm and genocide, and do not receive the treatment they deserve as human beings and as a people under occupation. And [all] this just because of some caprice and escapades carried out without a proper assessment of their grave consequences.
"We all support the Palestinian people and [the need to] defend it and enable it to attain its rights and establish a free and viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. But this can only be achieved through action that is not haphazard, victory that is not temporary, Palestinian cooperation with the Arabs and not with others [i.e., Iran], and by ceasing to blackmail and provoke the Arabs with hurtful statements made by preachers in the Gaza mosques and in the Palestinian media that is hostile to the Arab states – states that devote their greatest attention, efforts and action to [the goal of] establishing a Palestinian state in accordance with the international resolutions and the Arab Initiative."[7]
In another article, from July 1, 2025, Al-Malik wrote: "I haven't the slightest doubt that [Hamas's] October 7 escapade was based on miscalculations, and that it did not anticipate that its strength would be paralyzed and that the consequences would be so disastrous…
"Today we must concentrate on results, because after October 7 neither Iran nor Hamas nor Hizbullah have the strength they once had… Any talk about victories gained over Israel and defeats it has suffered on the various fronts is [just] baseless twaddle, escape from reality and statements that are not compatible with what [really] needs to be said…"[8]
Palestinian Writer: Hamas Must Admit That The October 7 Attack Was A Strategic Mistake
Fadel Al-Manasfeh, a Palestinian columnist for the Emirati daily Al-Arab, castigated Hamas for insistently waving slogans of victory and refusing to relinquish power in Gaza while the people there are mired in destruction and ruin, and called on the movement to acknowledge that October 7 was a strategic mistake.
He wrote: "While the people of Gaza have been abandoned to face their fate alone amid destruction and slow death, the Hamas leadership continues to wave slogans of 'steadfastness' and of 'clinging to the land,' apparently unbothered by the scale of the devastation that swept through the Strip following October 7, [2023]. The movement stubbornly refuses to even consider the option of leaving [the Strip], viewing [this suggestion] as a betrayal of the national cause and a violation of principles – all while [its leaders] ignore the fact that the homeland they speak of no longer contains the minimal elements necessary for life.
"Hamas's leaders continue to address the people of Gaza in emotional terms. They talk about sacrifice as if they are standing on a podium and giving speeches in 2006, not facing a landscape whose contours have been obliterated, a people exhausted by massacres, and a social and economic infrastructure that has become a mere illusion. By contrast, the people of Gaza themselves now see the picture through different eyes, because the overwhelming majority of them have lost everything: their homes, their families and even their hope…
"When Hamas speaks of national duty, it must first admit that what happened [on October 7] was a strategic mistake, that its considerations before the war were unrealistic, that no victory emerged from the womb of these massacres, and that reality cannot be managed by applauding [terror] but [only] through acknowledgement [of mistakes], self-scrutiny and prudence…"[9]
Egyptian Writer: Hamas Has Lost The Ability To Rule Gaza
Abdel Latif El-Menawy, a columnist for the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, wrote that, given the ongoing war, the disastrous situation in Gaza and the elimination of Hamas's leaders, this movement could no longer control the Strip, and called on it to place the lives of the Gazans above any other consideration:
"More than 18 months after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on the Israeli settlements near the Strip, it seems that the situation in Gaza is more tragic and complicated than ever before. This long war has cast severe doubt on Hamas's ability to continue ruling Gaza, amid growing claims that it has actually lost control of the internal situation there.
"Since the beginning of its military operation [in Gaza], Israel has employed a policy of eliminating Hamas's leaders, both political and military. The head of the movement, Isma'il Haniya, was eliminated in Tehran, and other senior officials, such as Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, as well as other senior field commanders, were eliminated as well. These blows caused confusion among the movement's leadership, which found it difficult to manage the fighting with the occupation. This, in turn, clearly affected its ability to control the situation in Gaza.
"The loss of human lives was not the only source of pain. Destruction spread in every domain of life, and Gaza became a ghost town whose residents experience hunger and thirst amid the ongoing attacks and siege. This made the daily management of the Strip an almost impossible task for any ruling power, no matter how strong or how popular…
"Today Gaza is one step away from a humanitarian disaster [whose management] requires much more than political considerations. National and moral duty obligates Hamas to uphold the value of Gazan lives and place it above any [other] consideration…"[10]