In Speech At International Imperialism And Law Conference In Greece, Charlotte Kates, Of PFLP-Affiliated Designated Terror Organization Samidoun, Praised Hizbullah And Hamas 'Martyrs' Hassan Nasrallah
Samidoun, Kates's organization, is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated terrorist by the U.S. for over two decades. She is married to Khaled Barakat, identified by the U.S. government as a senior member of the PFLP and who was designated terrorist by both the U.S. and Canada in October 2024, since which time he has been residing in Beirut. Additionally, a recent conference at the European Parliament concluded that the EU should also designate Samidoun as a terrorist entity.
Kates was arrested in May 2024 following her speech at a rally in Vancouver, British Columbia in which she expressed support for Hamas, the PFLP, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Lebanese Hizbullah and demanded that they be removed from Canada's terror list. In August 2024, Kates traveled to Iran to accept Iran's "Eighth Annual Islamic Human Rights And Human Dignity Award," presented in Tehran on August 4 by the secretary general of the High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The following day in Tehran, she gave a detailed interview to Iran's Ofogh TV, discussing her arrest. Kates traveled to Lebanon to attend the funeral of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah in February 2025 and so far appears to still be there.
More recently, both Kates and Barakat expressed support for the murder of a young couple who were Israeli Embassy staffers in an attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. where an event for Jewish professionals was being held.
Kates's presentation at the April conference in Greece featured a slideshow honoring "martyrs" of the resistance, among them Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Iran-backed terror organization Hizbullah in Lebanon; his successor Hashem Safieddine; and numerous leading Hamas figures, including Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Saleh Arouri, and Muhammad Deif.
The following report will focus on Kates's speech at the International Conference on Imperialism and Law in Athens, Greece.
Samidoun Posts Charlotte Kates's Speech
On its X account, on April 27, 2025, Samidoun posted about the event. It read: "Honoring the martyrs, advocating for the resistance: Charlotte Kates at the Athens conference on Imperialism and Law." A post on Samidoun's website the same day provided the full text of Kates's speech and its accompanying slideshow.[1]
Samidoun's X post about the conference (X.com/SamidounPP/status/1916409622828556708)
At The Conference: The Anti-Imperialist Front
Kates shared the stage with an unnamed woman representing the Anti-Imperialist Front, an organization apparently based in Europe, which on its Facebook account openly calls for the destruction of Israel and glorified Elias Rodriguez, who had murdered the two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. and shouted "Free Palestine!" The Anti-Imperialist Front appears to have streamed the conference on Twitch, although the stream is no longer available to view.
Photos from the event posted by the Anti-Imperialist Front (Facebook.com/tv.antiimperialistfront)
May 22, 2025 Facebook post by the Anti-Imperialist Front sharing the video of Elias Rodriguez's arrest following the shooting and praising his actions.
Charlotte Kates's Speech Honoring Hizbullah And Hamas 'Martyrs': 'The Great, Heroic Operation On October 7, 2023 Was An Organized, Strategic Operation'
The following are portions of Kates's speech, as published on the Samidoun website, along with images from the accompanying slideshow.
"I Want To Begin By Saluting All Of The Martyrs... The Great Leaders Of Our Global Anti-Imperialist Movement And Movement For Justice, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif"
"I want to begin by saluting all of the martyrs, from the great leaders of our global anti-imperialist movement and movement for justice, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif... and every heroic resistance fighter, every martyr on the road to al-Quds, whose lives have been taken by the malign forces of imperialism and Zionism...
From the slideshow by Charlotte Kates during her speech at the conference (Samidoun.net/2025/04/honoring-the-martyrs-advocating-for-the-resistance-charlotte-kates-at-the-athens-conference-on-imperialism-and-law, April 27, 2025
"The armed resistance, the fighters of Hamas and the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement and [its armed wing] Saraya al-Quds [Al-Quds Brigades], the PFLP and the [PFLP's armed wing] Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and all the factions of the Resistance, the warriors of Hizbullah in Lebanon, the armed forces, the people, and the AnsarAllah [Houthis] movement of Yemen, the resistance fighters of Iraq and the revolutionary forces of Iran who continue to resist imperialism in the region... at the center of our global movement.
"The vast destruction imposed upon humanity, upon the global majority, by imperialism, led by the United States but accompanied by the imperialist powers from Britain to the European Union countries to Canada to Australia and New Zealand – NATO, the Five Eyes and similar aggressive alliances – is immense and terrible, and cannot be confronted except by confronting those directly responsible and the systems that they profit from...
"What We See Today Is The Facade Of Freedoms Of Expression And Association Falling Before The Crisis Of Imperialism And A Revolutionary Upsurge Which Bears The Name Al-Aqsa Flood"
"So, for us as people's lawyers, as revolutionary lawyers, as anti-imperialists, there is always the question to ask, and, indeed, to answer: why are we here? What is our role?... [W]e must address this by being clear about the purpose of 'law,' particularly bourgeois law, which is not to protect us nor to defend us but to repress us. If we have revolutionary movements, they will not be protected by the systems of bourgeois law, because that is not the purpose of this legal system... What we see today is the facade of freedoms of expression and association falling before the crisis of imperialism and a revolutionary upsurge which bears the name Al-Aqsa Flood.
"As we speak about Palestine, of course, we must be clear – the genocide in Palestine did not begin on 7 October 2023. It did not even begin in 1947-1948 and the illegitimate establishment of the so-called "state of Israel," the Zionist regime, on Palestinian land...
"The Great, Heroic Operation On October 7, 2023... The Great Al-Aqsa Flood, Changed The World, Irreversibly" – " And Every Day Since Then, The Unified Resistance Has Continued To Defend And Uphold Humanity Against Genocide"
"The great, heroic operation on October 7, 2023 was an organized, strategic operation by the Palestinian resistance, which holds a deep relationship and alliance with the other forces of the Axis of Resistance, or, more broadly, what we might call the global camp of resistance, centered in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and, of course, Syria, where we are today witnessing a great tragedy and crime created by the machinations and the killing sanctions of U.S. Imperialism.
"It was a brilliantly planned military action that surprised even the fighters and leaders when they encountered the inability and unpreparedness of the Zionist soldiers in their military bases to actually fight against an attack, a tactical offensive... The leadership of the Al-Qassam Brigades, including the martyrs Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and of course Yahya Sinwar, clearly viewed this action as, as Deif said in video footage released after his martyrdom was announced on 30 January 2025, one that would change the world, and they were correct to do so...
"We must be clear: October 7, the great Al-Aqsa Flood, changed the world, irreversibly. This day made clear before the world that it is quite possible to envision a Palestine free of Zionism and a region free of imperialism, and that this resistance camp is capable of achieving that goal with its own hands...
"And every day since then, the unified Resistance has continued to defend and uphold humanity against genocide. The unified resistance front, stretching from Palestine to Lebanon, where the Lebanese Resistance cleared northern occupied Palestine of occupation soldiers and settlers and sacrificed its beloved leaders in order to uphold Palestine; to Yemen, where the Yemeni people, government, armed forces and AnsarAllah movement have shut down the supply lines of genocide in the Red Sea, causing the port of Eilat to declare bankruptcy; to Iraq, to Iran, and stretching around the world to all who confront imperialism, Zionism and reaction...
"We know that armed struggle is a legal right under international law and upheld by UN resolutions, but it would be a legitimate right even without that as a basic framework for humanity defending itself against occupiers and destructive forces that come to exploit and plunder by force of arms... And one of the things that has happened since 7 October at a popular level is a wide-scale, popular support and recognition, even in the heart of the imperial core, after a campaign of lies and propaganda aimed to smear the Palestinian resistance and its fighters, is that of the justice of the Palestinian cause and the heroism of its fighters.
"In 1968, The Palestinian National Charter Affirmed: 'Armed Struggle Is The Only Way To Liberate Palestine... Today, [This] Is Led By Hamas And Islamic Jihad"
"In 1968, the Palestinian National Charter affirmed: 'Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase... At that time, the Palestinian revolution was led by the armed factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and today, it is led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with a broad alliance of forces. But the compass to liberation remains the same...
"It is within this context that it is important to discuss multiple mechanisms by which genocide is carried out... These include but are not limited to: The assassination policy; Anti-terror laws and designations; Sanctions and unilateral coercive measures.
"The assassination policy has been a core tactic of Zionist strategy for decades and is a policy pursued around the world... From Sayyed Nasrallah to Sayyed Safieddine, from [Hizbullah officials] Ibrahim Aqil to Fouad Shukr to Abbas al-Mussawi, from [Hamas officials] Ismail Haniyeh to Saleh al-Arouri to [Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder] Fathi Shiqaqi, [PFLP leader] Abu Ali Mustafa, [Hamas cofounder] Abd Al-Aziz Rantisi, [Hamas cofounder] Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, [Hizbullah official] Imad Mughniyyeh, [Hamas bombmaker "The Engineer"] Yahya Ayyash, [Fatah military commander] Abu Jihad, [PLO leader] Kamal 'Udwan, [1972 Munich massacre terrorist] Mohammed al-Najjar, [PFLP official] Basil al-Kubaisi, [top PFLP official] Wadie Haddad, [PFLP official] Mohammed Boudia, [Palestinian resistance activist] Basil al-Araj, [Palestinian Islamic Jihad official] Tariq Izzedine to [top Hizbullah operative] Samir Kuntar; the Zionist regime relies on the assassination weapon against the liberation movement. We see this also with the US assassination of [Iranian IRGC Qods Force commander] General Qassem Soleimani and [Popular Mobilization Front official] Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, part of the same strategy.
From the slideshow by Charlotte Kates during her speech at the conference (Samidoun.net/2025/04/honoring-the-martyrs-advocating-for-the-resistance-charlotte-kates-at-the-athens-conference-on-imperialism-and-law, April 27, 2025
"[Palestinian Islamic Jihad official] Tareq Izzedine said, 'Whenever a leader ascends, 10 will emerge to replace them. When a martyr ascends, 100 martyrs will emerge to replace them. The march continues, and it does not stop until the defeat of the occupation.' And as Saleh al-Arouri said, 'We are martyred like our people, we are arrested as they are arrested, our homes are demolished and we are being chased and pursued. We fight because we must'...
"For the past weeks, since the overt resumption of genocidal bombing on 18 March, we have witnessed the assassination policy in extreme escalation in Gaza, clearly relying on intelligence obtained during the ceasefire period, because these are by and large political and social leaders being targeted for assassination, with the exception of Naji Abu Saif, known as Abu Hamza, the spokesperson of Saraya al-Quds: Issam Al-Da'alis, Chairman of the [Hamas] Government Work Follow-Up Committee; Yasser Harb, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas; Ahmad Al-Hatta, [Hamas] Deputy Minister of Justice; Mahmoud Abu Watfa, [Hamas] Deputy Minister of Interior; Bahjat Abu Sultan, Director General of the [Hamas] Internal Security Service; Mohammed Al-Jamasi, Chairman of the [Hamas] Emergency Committee; Salah al-Bardawil, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas; Ismail Barhoum, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas and responsible for social and charity affairs; Abdel-Latif al-Qanou, spokesperson of Hamas...
From the slideshow by Charlotte Kates during her speech at the conference (Samidoun.net/2025/04/honoring-the-martyrs-advocating-for-the-resistance-charlotte-kates-at-the-athens-conference-on-imperialism-and-law, April 27, 2025
"Assassinating those responsible for justice, security, charity and aid distribution, and those who document Zionist crimes, is a central tactic meant to allow the genocide to continue. On too many occasions, we discuss the crimes of the Zionist regime and assure listeners that the victims were 'not Hamas'... but the killing of these men is itself a crime – it is quite clearly the international crime of extrajudicial killing and execution, and it is also a key mechanism to disrupt society and enable genocide..."
"We Must Clearly Call For An End To The Terrorist Designation Of Palestinian Lebanese Yemeni, Iraqi, Iranian Forces, And For That Matter, Organizations In Solidarity Like Samidoun... Anti-Terror Laws Serve As A Form Of Psychological Warfare That Aims To Unroot The 'Solidarity' Framework From The Leadership Of The Revolutionary Movement"
"The turnout of over 1.5 million people in the streets of Beirut to honor and remember the martyrs [Hizbullah leader] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and [his deputy] Sayyed Hashem Safieddine sparked the Zionists to fly warplanes over the crowd and bomb several locations in Lebanon... They aim not only to assassinate the leaders of the Resistance movement but to assassinate their legacy and memory...
"This of course, goes hand in hand with the use of anti-terror laws and 'terrorist' designations, organization bans and the like, to suppress support for the resistance... In short: anti-terror laws and terrorist designations exist not only to persecute and imprison people for supporting the resistance.... We must clearly call for an end to the terrorist designation of Palestinian Lebanese Yemeni, Iraqi, Iranian forces, and for that matter, organizations in solidarity like Samidoun, which was itself designated a "terrorist entity" by Canada, a "specially designated global terrorist" by the US, banned by Germany and designated a "terrorist" group by the Zionist entity... We must very clearly call to abolish these lists in imperialist countries, which are designed to create arbitrary mechanisms of repression... and to de-list Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, Al-Aqsa Brigades, Hizbullah, AnsarAllah and indeed Samidoun... Anti-terror laws serve as a form of psychological warfare that aims to unroot the 'solidarity' framework from the leadership of the revolutionary movement..."
"Al-Aqsa Flood Is A Flood Of The People, For Liberation, An End To Colonialism And Zionism, And A Head-On Confrontation With Imperialism. Let Us Play Our Role And Join The Flood"
"Al-Aqsa Flood is a flood of the people, for liberation, an end to colonialism and Zionism, and a head-on confrontation with imperialism. Let us play our role and join the flood, in the name of the martyrs and the prisoners, in support of those fighters, for a free Palestine from the river to the sea. For a liberated Arab nation free of imperialism. For a self-determined, revolutionary Iran continuing its revolution after 40 years free of war threats, and for a world liberated from US imperialism and Zionism.
"As the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in his last speech, "The end of this battle will be a historic victory." Let us do everything in our power to bring about that victory and play our unique role as anti-imperialist lawyers, with and as part of the global camp of Resistance and revolution."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Shafaq News
3 hours ago
- Shafaq News
Hamas ties talks to end Gaza famine
Shafaq News – Gaza On Thursday, Hamas expressed its 'immediate readiness' to resume ceasefire negotiations, on the condition that humanitarian aid reaches its intended recipients and the famine in Gaza is brought to an end. In a statement, the Palestinian group warned that continuing talks amid what it described as a starvation policy strips the negotiations of meaning. Hamas accused Israel of withdrawing from the talks without justification while 'continuing to deprive more than two million Palestinians of food,' resulting in what the group called an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. Hamas called on the international community and relevant stakeholders to take urgent action to stop the 'massacre committed by the Israeli military against Gaza's population.' It demanded the immediate, unconditional delivery of food aid with guarantees to protect it from obstruction or targeting. The group stressed that any future negotiations must be built on ending the current crisis and ensuring basic human rights.
Memri
7 hours ago
- Memri
Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar In Coordinated Campaign Against Egyptian Regime: Helping Gaza Is Jihad And A Religious Duty; The 'Blood-Spilling Al-Sisi Regime' Must Fall
Amid the stalemate in the ceasefire talks with Israel, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement, along with their patron Qatar, have been waging an orchestrated campaign against the Egyptian regime, which is threatening its stability. This axis is using the narrative of "the systematic starving of the Gazans" – another campaign it is promoting – to place direct blame on Egypt and its president, Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, for the crisis in Gaza. It thereby presents Egypt, which mediates between Israel and Hamas and which refuses to fully open its side of the Rafah border crossing, as directly complicit in harming the Palestinians. As part of this effort Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza and the head of its team for the indirect negotiations with Israel, called on the people of Jordan and Egypt, in a speech that was aired in full on Al-Jazeera, 'to break the siege on Gaza' and to storm the border with Palestine.[1] Directly addressing the Egyptian people, leaders, armed forces and tribes, he added: '[Can it be that] your brothers in Gaza are dying of hunger [right] on your border, close to you?!… The great Egypt must speak out boldly [and say]: 'Gaza will not starve. [Egypt] will not let the [Israeli] enemy leave the crossing closed while the people of Gaza are in need…'[2] A major partner in this intimidation campaign against the Egyptian regime is the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), sponsored and funded by Qatar and Turkey,[3] which are also the patrons of the MB, Hamas's parent organization. The leaders of the IUMS have long been inciting against Egypt. As part of their present campaign against it, they have issued statements and religious rulings stipulating that aiding Gaza is a religious duty and part of jihad, and that any leader withholding aid from Gaza will be held accountable by Allah. President Al-Sisi was even described as 'an enemy of Allah' whose regime must be overthrown. Moreover, the heads of the IUMS pressed the Sheikh of Al-Azhar – the leading religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world, which is based in Cairo – to call for the opening of the Rafah crossing in contravention of the Egyptian regime's position. Shortly afterward Al-Azhar indeed issued a statement that implicitly blamed the Arab world, and possibly also the Egyptian regime, for the situation in Gaza, but soon removed it, presumably under pressure from the regime. The Egyptian regime itself rejected the pressure from Hamas and its allies, accusing them of 'spreading lies.' However, it allowed the Egyptian media to serve as a platform for a harsh attacks against them. It should be noted that this campaign is similar in its methods to previous incitement campaigns waged by Hamas and its allies against Arab regimes that have normalized relations with Israel. These campaigns included attempts to destabilize these regimes by encouraging protests against them and by directly calling on their citizens to wage jihad against Israel from their own countries.[4] It should also be mentioned that the relations between Egypt and Qatar have known considerable tension, and were even severed for several years, mainly due to Qatar's support of the MB, which is designated as a terror organization in Egypt.[5] The tension between the two countries flared up recently following reports in Israel that Qatar had allegedly paid close advisors of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to spread negative messaging about Egypt in the media.[6] This report reviews the campaign waged by Hamas, the IUMS, Qatar and elements identified with the MB against the Egyptian regime, as well as responses in Egypt to this campaign. Cartoon in Qatari daily: The Gazan child "goes to sleep hungry because the Arab armies are slumbering" (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, July 31, 2025) IUMS, Supported And Funded By Qatar And Turkey: It's Time For Jihad And Self-Sacrifice; Egypt Must Open The Rafah Crossing Following Hamas's July 19, 2025 call for worldwide protests against what it terms the systematic starving of the Gazans,[7] Hamas, the MB, and the IUMS launched a campaign urging Muslims to wage jihad on Gaza's behalf and proclaiming it a religious duty to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. For example, on July 20, IUMS chairman Ali Al-Qaradaghi called on the Islamic governments and on all Muslims who can do so to wage 'comprehensive jihad, with their possessions, lives, words and stances,' in order to save the people of Gaza.[8] In a July 28 post on his X account he reiterated the call for 'comprehensive jihad' and added, 'The time has come.'[9] Al-Qaradaghi's X post calling for 'comprehensive jihad' On July 22 the IUMS's Fatwa Committee issued a religious ruling stating that 'countries and leaders who neglect [helping Gaza] will be accountable to Allah' and that 'this shari'a obligation… is part of jihad.' A separate clause in the ruling focused on Egypt, calling on it to 'open the crossings' and describing this as a religious duty.[10] Another IUMS member, Shu'aib Al-Hussein Al-Nadawi, likewise called on religious clerics around the world to pressure the Egyptian government to allow the delivery of aid through the Rafah crossing.[11] A statement issued by the London branch of the MB stressed that 'the duty of jihad is incumbent not only on the people of Gaza but on all their close neighbors.' Criticizing Egypt, it added that the 'Zionist expansion would not have been possible were it not for the shameful impotence and the closing of the crossings.'[12] IUMS Incites Head Of Al-Azhar Against Al-Sisi Regime IUMS officials – including the union's secretary-general Ali Al-Salabi and deputy chairman Ahmad Al-Khalili, who also serves as the Mufti of Oman – as well as the IUMS Fatwa Committee, urged Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Sheikh of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar – the leading religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world that provides religious backing to the Al-Sisi regime – to issue a religious ruling obligating Egypt to open the Rafah crossing and break the siege on Gaza, in contravention of the regime's policy.[13] On July 22 Al-Tayeb indeed responded to this call. He issued a harsh statement against Israel and all its supporters, and implicitly criticized the Arab states and possibly also the Egyptian regime by quoting an Arab proverb against turning one's back on one's allies.[14] The statement was removed from Al-Azhar's social media accounts shortly after its publication, presumably under pressure from the regime – which is concerned for its role as a mediator in the current negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza – and also in response to fury over the statement's implicit criticism of the Arab world. Responding to the removal of the statement, the IUMS published an open letter to Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayeb, signed by its chairman Al-Qaradaghi and secretary-general Al-Salabi, urging Al-Tayeb once more to issue a religious ruling advising the Egyptian regime to support and aid its 'neighbor that is under attack,' i.e., the Gaza Strip. Addressing Al-Tayeb and the Egyptians, the letter asked: 'What will Allah say about your failure and the failure of the Egyptian people to come to the aid of the weak?'[15] Elements Identified With MB And Qatar Call For Overthrow Of Al-Sisi Regime Alongside the statements obligating Egypt to wage jihad, the IUMS also launched a direct campaign against President Al-Sisi himself. IUMS member Wasfi Ashour Abu Zeid, who resides in Turkey, wrote on X that 'closing the crossings to Gaza is a crime and constitutes direct complicity in the murder of innocents,' and blamed 'the blood-spiller Al-Sisi.'[16] Moreover, social media users circulated remarks by IUMS member Al-Sadiq Al-Gharyani, who is affiliated with the MB and serves as Mufti of western Libya, in which he called Al-Sisi "an enemy of Allah" and his regime 'a Zionist product' and exhorted Muslims to 'overthrow the usurper and his tyrannical regime.'[17] With the encouragement of MB-affiliated elements, protests were held in front of Egypt's representations across the world.[18] Some of these protests included harsh calls against the Egyptian president, such as 'There is no god but Allah and Al-Sisi is Allah's enemy,'[19] and "Al-Sisi is a traitor."[20] Protest in front of the Egyptian ambassador's residence in London condemns the closing of the Rafah crossing (Image: July 27, 2025) The Qatari media, and especially Al-Jazeera, also joined the campaign against the Egyptian regime. Conspicuous in his pointed criticism of this regime was prominent Al-Jazeera presenter Jamal Rayyan, who wrote on X: 'Dozens of Gazans are dying of starvation every day. Do the Egyptians and their president not fear the punishment of Allah?' He added: 'History will record that the people of Gaza were collapsing from hunger in the streets while Egypt's President Al-Sisi prevented food from reaching them.' Rayyan also shared footage of former Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi, of the MB, pledging he would never abandon Gaza, and commented: 'Why were [the reins of government] handed to the one who abandoned Gaza?', hinting at Al-Sisi.[21] The Qatari government daily Al-Sharq published an article titled 'If Cairo Acts, Gaza Will Be Able to Breathe,' which called on Egypt to open the Rafah crossing and claimed that 'Egypt's centrality in the nation's consciousness' was being put to the test.[22] The London-based Qatari daily Al-Arabi Al-Jadid published an article titled 'Rage, Egypt!', by Palestinian journalist Ziad Barakat, a former Al-Jazeera employee, who wrote: 'We are entitled to expect Cairo to rage, to open the crossing, and to force Israel to lift the siege on Gaza and face a torrent of angry Egyptians streaming across the border.'[23] Another London-based Qatari daily, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published an article by an Egyptian journalist stating that 'the hunger in Gaza threatens Al-Sisi's throne,' and holding Egypt responsible for the situation there.[24] Egyptian Establishment Rejects The Criticism: Egypt Is Committed To The Palestinian Cause; The Accusations Should Be Directed At Israel For many days, official Egypt refrained from responding to the campaign against it. The first official who eventually referred to it was Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who implicitly accused the MB of spreading lies and stressed that Israel is responsible for the situation in Gaza. He said: 'There are five crossings into Gaza. Why doesn't anyone speak about opening the Israeli crossings? Why do they focus on the Egyptian side? This is a transparent and deliberate attempt to harm Egypt, but Egypt's hands are clean when it comes to its Palestinian brothers…"[25] Two days later, President Al-Sisi also rebuffed the criticism against Egypt. He said that 'it's important that people be familiar with [Egypt's] positive positions,' and added: 'On our side [of the border] there is a large amount of aid ready to enter the Strip… But sending it in requires coordination with the other side [i.e., Israel]… Our role is honorable, loyal and honest, and it will not change.' He urged the world and especially U.S. President Donald Trump to 'invest every effort in ending the war and bringing aid' into Gaza.[26] Alongside these declarations, the Egyptian media launched a wide-ranging counterattack, which was directed mainly at the Hamas leadership, due to Hamas official Al-Hayya's inciting calls on the Egyptian people, army and tribes to break the siege on Gaza and storm the border with it. Senior journalist Dandrawy Al-Hawary addressed Hamas leaders "who live lives of luxury abroad and have obtained various citizenships for themselves and their children," and asked them, "What have you done for your people in Gaza other than chatter on social media, move between hotels in different capital cities, and then attack Egypt and accuse it of not assisting [Gaza]?" He added: "Why don't you return to your homeland, fight there and get a bitter taste of the hunger and the thirst you caused with your ill-considered and reckless October 7 [operation] against the Israelis, which you call the Al-Aqsa Flood[?]"[27] In a similar vein, journalist Hamdy Rizk, the former editor of the daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, published a scathing article against Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, while playing on his name, which means 'snake' in Arabic. He wrote: "When a snake is satiated it sleeps, but Khalil Al-Hayya woke up satiated, yawned, and [then] demanded, from his warm bed in voluntary exile, that [people] advance on the [Rafah] crossing. Al-Hayya and his ilk in the 'hotel resistance' do not represent the resistance on the ground… or the people in Gaza…"[28] "No limit to the destruction" – cartoon on X account of Palestinian journalist Majdy Abd Al-Wahab, who wrote: "After destroying Gaza, Al-Hayya wants to destroy Egypt" ( July 28, 2025)
Memri
7 hours ago
- Memri
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
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: 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]
