In one voice recording of a Hamas militant who used an Israeli victim’s cellphone on October 7 to call his parents in Gaza, the fighter brags to his father that he is in Israel.
“I killed 10 with my bare hands,” he says. “Their blood is on my hands, let me talk to Mom.”
“May God protect you,” his mother says, sobbing.
“Mom, your son is a hero. Kill, Kill, Kill,” the fighter says, before his father takes back the phone.[i]
(Audio Recording https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1716874512292327809?s=20)
We now know that it was not only the professional Hamas terrorists who were massacring innocent civilians, a mob of “ordinary Palestinians” from Gaza joined them in the attacks. Videos from communities of Be'erim, Nir Oz and others showed "dozens of ordinary-looking Gazans looting and taking part in killings…" according to videos and eyewitness accounts.[i-b]
A former Israeli commando, Rax Cohen, survived Hamas' attack on the Nova music festival, where hundreds were killed. He said in the report he hid in a bush with friends for almost seven hours, and watched as "Gazan civilians," men "wearing Adidas and armed only with knives and axes," raped and murdered a woman. "They always laughed. I can't forget how they laughed."
I guess you would expect the Hamas terrorists, with the help of ordinary men from Gaza, to be proud of their handiwork in Southern Israel (1,400 tortured and murdered, hundreds taken captive) on October 7. After all, they are “heroes,” with 72 virgins waiting for each one of them, but you would expect people around the world, regardless of their political views, to condemn the mass butchery, but you would be wrong.
On October 16, 2023, the Qatari state daily Al-Raya published a poem lavishing praise on the terrorists and their actions. Written by Dr. Ayman Otoom, a Jordanian author and poet who also writes a column in the daily, the poem describes the terrorists as "pure" and as "heroes" who emerged from the bowels of the "rebelling earth," from the depth of sea and from the sky while "generating death, adorning it, wearing it," and then "delivered it, so that the flood may spread."[ii]
"generating death, adorning it, wearing it”
But praise for the murderers is not limited to the Middle East. In Ithaca, N.Y., at a campus rally, Cornell University professor Russell Rickford calls the executions of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians “energizing” and “exhilarating.”[iii] The crowd later chants, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will soon be free,” a slogan visualizing that Israel no longer exists since from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea, there would only be a Muslim, “Jew-free,” nation called Palestine.
A Chicago art teacher uses the occasion to post “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very, very bad people. Irredeemable excrement.”[iv]
In South Africa, the leader of the third largest party vows to arm Hamas when they take power. EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) leader Julius Malema proclaims, “There is nothing wrong that Hamas did. Confront the enemy and shoot to kill!” EFF has been calling for the genocide of South Africa’s white minority for years.[v]
On October 22, pro-Palestine demonstrators in Minneapolis stage a “die-in,” blocking dozens of cars at a major intersection. They surround the car of an elderly man, who is clearly terrified. They beat and kick the car, while shouting “he’s not going anywhere now!” When he finally drives away, they chase his car to the next intersection, which is also blocked. He does a u-turn and drives away, while one woman demonstrator, shouts, “shoot him!”[vi]
As the prospects for world peace get darker and darker, I comfort myself by looking at the photo of a young Israeli couple who were able to save the lives of their 10-month-old twin boys by hiding them in a secure room before Hamas terrorists broke into their home and killed the couple.[vii]
It’s also true that there are Arab/Muslim heroes who fought against the Hamas terrorists. In the photo is Ashraf, an Arab Bedouin IDF (Israeli) commander who defended his base against the terrorists.
A video posted on Twitter shows Israeli civilians (Jewish and Arab) chanting his name, hugging and thanking him for saving their lives.[viii] Yes, 2 million Arab (Moslem and Christian) citizens and permanent residents in Israel make up 20% of the nation’s population.[ix]
Such images give me hope that sanity will return to the Middle East and that the forces of destruction will not win. Meanwhile, prepare for the storm of hate and violence to come.
[i] Sune Engel Rasmussen and Shoshanna Solomon, “Israeli Military Shows Footage from Oct. 7 Attacks, Some Taken From Militants’ Body Cams,” Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2023.
[i-b] Andrew Tobin, “'Just as Cruel as the Terrorists': Many Ordinary Palestinians Joined in Hamas's Atrocities Against Israel,” Washington Free Beacon, October 24, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/national-security/just-as-cruel-as-the-terrorists-many-ordinary-palestinians-joined-in-hamass-atrocities-against-israel/
[ii] Middle East Media Report Internationl. Quatar, Palestine, Special Dispatch No. 10887. www.memri.org/reports/qatari-daily-poem-praise-hamas-attack-falling-battle-martyr-not-falling-it-beginning-victory
[iii] Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford speaking about Hamas terrorist attacks.
https://twitter.com/samaberman/status/1714081199050662092
[iv] Statement by Mika Tosca, associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. https://x.com/StopAntisemites/status/1714434651106803780?s=20
[v] “3rd largest party in South Africa vows to arm Hamas when they take power,” @EndWokeness, October 23. https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1716442415836312047?s=20
[vi] Pro-Palestine demonstrators block intersection in Minneapolis. https://x.com/UR_Ninja/status/1716227124275626374?s=20 and https://x.com/Aninymouse/status/1716614113055441130?s=20.
[vii] Nancy Flanders, “Israeli couple remembered for saving infant twins by hiding them as Hamas invaded,” Live Action News, October 12, 2023. https://www.liveaction.org/news/couple-saves-twins-hiding-hamas-home/
[viii] https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1715688707183837257?s=20
[ix] Ivana Kottasová and Adi Kopelwitz, “The war has forced Israel’s Arab citizens to explain that no, they are not Hamas,” CNN, October 21, 2023.