The current crisis for Israel and the sufferings of Gaza have deep roots in Islam as practised in the Middle East. It can be difficult for Westerners to understand, due to the language barrier, but beneath the obvious cultural factors lie depths of hatred.
Qur’an one of the sources of jihad and hatred
Nonie Darwish, a Middle East scholar, and Director of Former Muslims United, identified some of these factors back in 2012.1 Some words she quotes from repeated entries in the Qur’an, “O you who believe! do not take the Jews or Christians for friends…or helpers”2, help to explain the simplest level of religious division in Israel. Beneath this are layers of hatred, as she points out later, “As someone born and raised in the Muslim world, I know that Islamic anger and terror against the West lurks and lies in wait for any excuse to explode at the culture that is the object of their jihad. Jihad, once the pride of the Islamic world, is now an international crime that Muslims have learned to camouflage as self-defense [sic]. Not one mosque Friday sermon in the Middle East is devoid of cursing of the non-Muslim (kafir) enemies of Islam.” An extreme example of the level of hatred fostered occurred on ‘Quds Day’ this year, May 7th, when, on al-Aqsa TV, Fathi Hammad of Hamas ranted, “People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives. With your hand, cut their artery from here. A knife costs five shekels. Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it there, and just cut off. It costs just five shekels. With those five shekels, you will humiliate the Jewish state.”3
Jerusalem centre stage
Temple Mount map
As that quotation indicates, another layer of hatred is Jerusalem itself. Though there is not one mention of it in the Qur’an4, even under its Arabic name, ‘al-Quds’, it holds centre stage in modern Islamic culture. Though the term ‘al-Aqsa’ is widely (and inaccurately) used in current ideology, it merely means ‘the farthest’ and is not geographically identified in the Qur’an. According to Syrian scholar, Firas Al-Sawwah, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque that is mentioned in the Quran is not the place we know today. The one who said that this place in Jerusalem is the Al-Aqsa Mosque was Abd Al-Malik Ibn Marwan [c.646-705AD]. He wanted to build a holy place there and decided to call it the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Historians say that this place indeed became a Qibla for the Muslims at that time.”5 Even here, there is an identity problem, for al-Malik also constructed the original Dome of the Rock (c.692AD), which is a shrine, not the mosque. The al-Aqsa mosque itself is the grey-domed building at the south end of the Temple Mount.
Lies to incite hatred
Ismail Haniyeh, Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas, speaking to pro-Palestinian protestors in Qatar on May 15th, said, “The Zionists thought ... they could demolish Al-Aqsa mosque. They thought they could displace our people in Sheikh Jarrah.”
Hamas on Temple Mount
“I say to Netanyahu, ‘do not play with fire’,” he continued, amid cheers from the crowd, “The title of this battle today, the title of the war, and the title of the intifada, is Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.”6
However, Israel has neither wish nor intention to destroy the mosque. Sadly, however, in recent years it has become at times a stronghold for rocks, explosives and even firearms for use against Israel’s police. The ‘Sheikh Jarrah’ issue, which has been played as part of Israel's alleged 'ethnic cleansing' strategy, is basically a legal issue regarding only four homes long-owned by Jews displaced by Jordan in 1947, in which current Palestinian tenants and squatters refuse to pay rent. Haniyeh’s words introduce another layer, that of lies used to incite and inflame hatred.
International meddling
Those statements also introduce the international factor in the current jihad/intifada. Qatar is a major player in Muslim information-shaping, being the home of the Al-Jazeera broadcasting network. Much more significant is the government of Iran. Mohammad-Hossein Sepehr, General of the Revolutionary Guards, on Dena TV, Iran (May 6th), said, “We see that the command of Imam [Khomeini] … has built Islamic resistance bases all over the world, in order to fight the cancerous and pustular growth … Israel's crimes are many … We have a religious duty to defend the world of Islam …[and] to act against Israel and annihilate it. This is the command and strategy of both imams of the Revolution … of the Prophet Muhammad and of God Himself.”7
Not only does Iran provide incitement, but huge logistical and material provision of weaponry. In an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-Genera,l Ziad Al-Nakhalah, said, “We have had the Kornet [missile] in our possession since 2012, as have our brothers in Hamas. In all the campaigns [against Israel] ... the resistance has used them ... All the conventional weapons reached Gaza via Al-Hajj Qassem Soleimani [Quds Force, Iran], Hizbullah, and Syria, and the entire axis played a part in transporting them ... There are training camps in Syria where our brothers in Hamas received special training to produce the rockets...” Nakhalah also said that Soleimani had personally “supervised and directed the transfer of the missiles to Gaza,” adding, “I can say that the missiles that [Soleimani] delivered to the Gaza Strip were the ones used to attack Tel Aviv.”8
A cult of martyrdom
Scandalously, in perpetrating jihad against Israel, the loss of Palestinian lives is actively encouraged. For example, Rahwi Fattouh, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, posted this on his Facebook page as casualties were mounting on May 11th: “Gaza is giving its sons over to eternal Paradise to be Martyrs for the sake of Jerusalem, Allah willing. The bride price [for Jerusalem] is worthy of sacrifice.”9 On the previous day, no lesser person than the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, declared on his Facebook page, “On your behalf I bless our people in Arab Jerusalem who have restored the cause to the global agenda in order to aid the holy city and Palestine. We strengthen the hands of those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) within the walls – young, old, children, and women – who are defending it with their eyelashes, their bleeding wounds, and the pain of their suffering”.9
Long before this, the young are cynically prepared. Back in 2005, Dr. Anne Speckhard, who is now Director of the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism, wrote, “In the Palestinian territories, there currently exists a ‘cult of martyrdom’. From a very young age children are socialized into a group consciousness that honors ‘martyrs’, including human bombers who have given their lives for the fight against what is perceived by Palestinians to be the unjust occupation of their lands. Young children are told stories of ‘martyrs’. Many young people wear necklaces venerating particular ‘martyrs’, posters decorate the walls of towns and rock and music videos extol the virtues of bombers.”10
In the Palestinian territories, there currently exists a ‘cult of martyrdom’. From a very young age children are socialised into a group consciousness that honours ‘martyrs’.
Child Soldiers International reported to Unicef in 2004, “Children are used as messengers and couriers, and in some cases as fighters and suicide bombers in attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. All the main political groups involve children in this way, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”11
Until the selectivity of Western reporting is more widely exposed and corrected, there can be little hope of resolution. We should work and pray to that end. However angered we may be by these matters, the principles promoted by Paul against “the trickery of men” and “the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” surely apply: we must always be “speaking the truth in love” (Eph.4:18).
N.B. If readers wish to understand more of the current military actions they can do no better than to read or watch the analysis of Colonel Richard Kemp: Trumpets and Tank Engines: A Turning Point in Gaza? :: Gatestone Institute 16 May 2021 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PnRqfm-fZ8 (Richard Kemp is a former British Army Commander and was also head of the international terrorism team in the U.K. Cabinet Office)
Endnotes
1The Islamists' Need to Feel Wronged: Gatestone Institute 12 Nov 2012, accessed 17 May 2021
2Top Hamas Official Fathi Hammad Urges Jerusalemites to ‘Cut Off the Heads of the Jews’ |MEMRI 7 May 2021, accessed 18 May 2021
3Qur'an 5:51; 3:28; 3:118; 9:23; 53:29; 3:85; 3:10; 7:44, and 1:5-7; and half a dozen entries from the Hadith
4(speaking on al-Hurra TV (USA) on March 3rd, 2019), also The mention of Jerusalem in the Quran - Islamweb - Fatwas, undated, accessed 17 May 2021
5Syrian Scholar Firas Al-Sawwah: The 'Al-Aqsa' In The Quran Is Not In Jerusalem; 'We Need A General Arab-Muslim Cultural Revival... Based On Criticism'; My 8th-Grade Teacher 'Told Us Judgment Day Would Not Come Until The Arabs And The Jews Fight' – And 'The Whole Class Burst Into Laughter' | MEMRI accessed 15 May 2021
6At least 33 killed in Israeli airstrike as Israel's PM vows to push on 'forcefully' with offensive (msn.com) 16 May 2021, accessed 16 May 2021 - Note, this article has been updated and changed since the quotes were taken from it.
7IRGC General Mohammad-Hossein Sepehr: We Have a Religious Duty to Annihilate Israel | MEMRI accessed 15 May 2021 12 May 2021 accessed 13 May 2021
8Hamas, Islamic Jihad Officials: Iran Provides Our Missiles, Weapons, Funds, And Food, Our Gunmen 'Were Trained By Our Brothers In The IRGC'; Without Iran's Assistance, We Wouldn't Be Able To Fire Rockets At Tel Aviv; Qassem Soleimani Personally Oversaw Transfer Of Rockets To Gaza | MEMRI 12 May 2021 accessed 13 May 2021
9PA and Fatah called for “escalating the popular resistance,” and praised Gazans’ willingness to go to “eternal Paradise to be Martyrs for Jerusalem | PMW Analysis (palwatch.org) 12 May 2021, accessed 13 May 2021
10Speckhard, Anne (2005), ‘Understanding Suicide Terrorism: Countering Human Bombs and their Senders’, in Purcell, J.S. et al (eds), Topics in Terrorism, Atlantic Council Publication
11Refworld | Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Israel re-accessed 18 May 2021
