Hamas's October 7 Massacre Is Part of Its Jihad to Destroy Israel
by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 24, 2025 at 5:00 am
Some people in Israel are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down and agree to Hamas's demand to end the war in the Gaza Strip.... These Israelis fail to understand that the October 7 massacre is just another phase of the Islamists' Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Since its violent, brutal takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has done nothing to help the local residents. Instead of building hospitals, schools and economic projects, Hamas, with the help of Iran and Qatar, has devoted huge resources to manufacturing weapons, such as rockets and missiles, and building a massive network of tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, in a document published shortly after the October 7 attack, openly admits that it is opposed to the presence of Jews in Israel. The document frankly admits that the conflict did not start as a result of the Holocaust, or when Israel declared independence in 1948, or on October 7, 2023, but 105 years ago, "including 30 years of British colonialism and 75 years of Zionist occupation." The document goes on to explain that Hamas "is a Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project."
Hamas's 1988 charter emphasizes the importance of Jihad as the main means for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals...
Significantly, the charter quotes Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, as saying: "Israel will arise and continue to exist until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished what went before." Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
US President Donald J. Trump would do well to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, the font of all the Islamic jihadist organizations, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Such an act would make it difficult for those countries that promote and finance jihadi terrorists to keep on doing so.
What happened on October 7 should be seen in the context of Qatar's, Iran's and Hamas's continuing Jihad. The massacre on October 7 was just another phase in the Islamist groups' efforts to eliminate Israel. After the October 7, massacres, the Qatari government media consistently praised the massacres, and weeks ago vowed more of them.
Anyone who believes that Hamas would abandon Jihad as a result of a ceasefire agreement is engaging in extreme self-deception. Hamas has not yet accomplished its mission of destroying Israel. Hamas's main goal, especially now, is to remain in power after the war.... Any deal that keeps Hamas in power would pave the way for the Islamist murderers, rapists and baby-killers to carry out still more massacres against Israelis.
Regrettably, there is no alternative to eradicating Hamas.
Some people in Israel are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down and agree to Hamas's demand to end the war in the Gaza Strip, as if Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel was just another round of fighting with the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group.
These Israelis fail to understand that the October 7 massacre is just another phase of the Islamists' Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Hamas did not attack Israel on October 7, 2023, just because it wanted to release Palestinian convicts from Israeli prisons or improve the living conditions of the Palestinians under its rule in the Gaza Strip. The attack, resulting in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the wounding of thousands more, as well as the abduction of more than 250 to the Gaza Strip, came as part of Hamas's Jihad to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.
