In his January 20, 2025 column in the independent Egyptian daily Al-Dustour, journalist Ahmad Al-Saghir slams Hamas and its leaders for their claim that Hamas has won the war against Israel. Titled “Abu Obeida and the Obvious Lie,”[1] the column states that the victory speech made by Hamas military Spokesman Abu Obeida[2] was full of lies that must be exposed. In contrast to its hollow slogans, Al-Saghir says, Hamas did not liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in this war but only caused the death of millions and took the Palestinian cause back to square one – while its cowardly leaders hid in tunnels, using the people of Gaza as human shields. Al-Saghir condemns Abu Obeida for thanking the Iran-led resistance axis for supporting Gaza, stating that it is Egypt that the Gazans should be grateful to, because without the help of this country – which, he says, will eventually settle its score with Hamas – the Gazans would have starved or been banished from their land.
Al-Saghir adds that Hamas’ fighters must not be compared even implicitly to the Prophet’s Companions, for that is an insult to the Prophet and his Companions, who never kidnapped women and children and never sinned against Islam by causing the death of millions of civilians, as Hamas has done.
Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida (Image: Aljazeera.net, January 16, 2025)
The following are translated excerpts from his column:[3]
“While Egypt was focused on bringing hundreds of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening [January 19], several channels were airing a long speech by [Hamas’] masked spokesman Abu Obeida. I listened with deep sorrow and sadness to this speech, and I can find no better description for it than “the speech of obvious lies,” rather than “the speech of clear victory”...
“In terms of its content, the speech can be boiled down to four points: Hamas achieved a great victory [and] taught the peoples and countries of the region a lesson in resistance and struggle; words of gratitude for the supporters of the Palestinian cause, as he listed them: the Houthis, Iran, the militias in Iraq, the capitals of several Muslim countries where stormy protests were held in support [of Gaza], and the citizens of several countries who wished to join Hamas’ militias; a call on the people of Palestine to show solidarity and compassion to one another and to unite behind Hamas’ leadership; and a mention of the movement’s martyrs [Isma’il] Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar and others.
“[But] the truth is that this speech is the greatest [display of] misleading, falsehood and deception by Hamas, and it is impossible to remain silent about it and not expose the great lies it contained…”
Al-Obeida’s Statements Were An Insult To The Prophet Muhammad’s Companions
“As is usual and customary [for Hamas, the speech] began with a flowery religious introduction aimed at stirring the hearers’ emotions and shutting down their brains, so they will forget what they saw and felt at every moment [of the war]. The [message] conveyed by Hamas’ spokesman, which implicitly presented his organization as a new generation similar to the early jihad fighters among the Companions of the Prophet, is a complete lie and an insult to the Prophet’s Companions, for neither the Prophet nor his Companions ever kidnapped women, children and elderly people, or foreigners with whom there are agreements. None of them behaved the way this organization has behaved throughout its history towards Egypt: attacking it and allowing harm to its soil, its resources, its borders and the lives of its people, who have always been the greatest supporters of the people whose land has been stolen [i.e., the Palestinians].
“By citing the beginning of Surat Al-Israa [the 17th surah of the Quran], he [Abu Obeida implies] that [Hamas] will be the one to enter Al-Aqsa. Have you liberated Al-Aqsa? [And] who says that Islam permits to endanger the lives of millions of civilians in order to liberate Al-Aqsa? Did the Prophet not say that demolishing the Kaaba, stone by stone, is lighter [in the sight of Allah] than spilling the blood of a single person?...
“Abu Obeida addressed the Palestinian people, the Islamic nation and the lovers of freedom throughout the world! Has Hamas’ official spokesman not read the messages of Gazans who curse Hamas from morning to night and clearly accuse it of betraying the Palestinian people?!... How can you address the [Palestinian] people after your organization directly caused the defeat of their resistance and undermined the achievements of their struggle, [accomplished] over long decades?
“Who convinced this man that he or his movement are the leaders of the nation? The officials of his movement were bombed by Israel; some of them were killed in hotels and others hid, while the bones of the women and children of the [Gaza] Strip were being crushed and their flesh was being burned. Were the Companions of the Prophet cowards who sent out their women and children to be killed while they hid, until they [too] were killed in their hideouts?... The pure Companions of the Prophet must not be mentioned in the same sentence with those who broke their promises and betrayed their commitments, and thereby resembled the Children of Israel, whom Abu Obeida mentioned in his speech!”
Hamas Has Taken The Palestinian Cause Back To Square One
“[Abu Obeida] says that the Al-Aqsa Flood war [i.e., Hamas’ war with Israel] was a prelude to the liberation of Palestine! Is there someone who can tell him that his organization has taken the [Palestinian] cause back to square one?
“The international support for the [Palestinian] cause following Israel’s aggression has nothing to do with what Hamas did. It was the response of the human conscience to the crimes of [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu. The entire world condemned what Hamas did [on October 7], and if Israel had not carried out its aggression, Hamas would have been the one to face the international legal and political war, and the same world would have prevented its continued existence…
“[And] what steadfastness of the Gazan people is [Abu Obeida] talking about? Hundreds of thousands of people were sleeping in their homes and woke up to a massacre without anybody asking or warning them, and the authorities in the Strip – i.e., Hamas – did not provide them with even the minimal amount of protection, gear, food or medicines, even though [Hamas] was the one that decided [on the attack]…
“[Abu Obeida] tried to exonerate his organization of the crime by claiming that the Strip was under siege and that there was a plan to expel [its people]… The plan of expulsion is familiar to all, and the one who thwarted it was Egypt, not Hamas. In fact, Palestinian President [Mahmoud Abbas] has publicly accused Hamas of officially agreeing to the plan of expelling the people of Gaza. The statements of [Hamas official] Osama Hamdan in the midst of the massacre prove this. They [Hamas officials] wanted to leave for Sinai and turn it into the center of what they call the ‘resistance’…”
An Honorable Resistance Movement Protects Its People
“Another lie [told by Abu Obeida] is that what Hamas has done represents a new school of resistance, which is an inspiration to the freedom-lovers throughout the world. Excuse me, but resistance against occupation is nothing new. It is an agreed-upon principle in human history and it has its own rules, ethics, models and laws. [Real] resistance fighters are [human] shields for their people, not the other way around. An honorable resistance movement carefully considers every step it takes and assesses the response it will bring upon its people, from a human and moral perspective, and against its cause, on the political level. It considers how the enemy will react against its unarmed people and against its cause, and whether this cause, and the record of its national struggle, will gain or lose. Everything Hamas did was the opposite of this. It provided protection and a secret safe haven for the hostages and for its officials, but not for a single Palestinian child.
“[Then] Abu Obeida begins the chapter of thanking the so-called ‘supporters of the resistance’… He thanks Iran, although it clearly sold them out in favor of its own considerations and its armament plans. He thanks the one who openly betrayed all [its] proxies – which it has used and which it calls the ‘resistance axis’ – for the sake of its own interests. By naming all the militias in the region, he proved that his movement has nothing to so with the [Palestinian] national cause or with liberating land…
The Egyptians Will Never Forget Hamas’ Wickedness
“Hamas’ spokesman deliberately avoided mentioning Egypt or the Egyptians, and we Egyptians will never forget this wickedness, just as we never forget loyalty. For the historical record, let me say openly that, were it not for Egypt, the people of the Strip would have been killed or would have died of hunger while patiently [waiting for salvation] – because Abu Obeida, or the people who use him and his movement, do not care about them. Were it not for Egypt, not a single packet of medicine or a single loaf of bread would have reached the people of the Strip. No international player would have been able to stand up to global Zionism. Were it not for Egypt, the situation would not have been as it is today. Were it not for Egypt, the Strip would have been filled to the brim with [Israeli] settlers, and its people would have fled… You [Hamas] are traitors and have abandoned [your people]. We [Egyptians] are doing what we are doing for the sake of that woman who cried out, amid the ruins of Gaza, that Hamas does not represent the Strip… I say to Abu Obeida that, when Egypt’s patience runs out, the time of reckoning will come…”
“The liar [Abu Obeida] concludes his remarks by revealing his true goal. Knowing very well that the people of Gaza hate this gang [Hamas], he tries to curry favor with them and cleanse himself by [invoking] the values of compassion and unity. He knows much better than we do that his organization never ruled the people of the Strip with compassion or mercy, but with an iron fist and with live fire. [Hamas], including its senior officials, used to kill Palestinians on the streets on vague charges.
“This organization wants to complete its flood, but it is not the Flood of Al-Aqsa. It is a flood of using the blood of the Gazans to raise funds. This will not happen, because neither [U.S. President Donald] Trump, who is pressing to complete the [ceasefire] deal, nor the countries of the region or the Palestinian people, will agree to this terror. Egypt will not abandon its role or allow to endanger its national security…
“This speech of obvious lies must be refuted in the media so that the peoples, chief of them the Egyptian and Palestinian peoples, will not forget what has happened. I predict that, when this organization despairs of earning a place in the post-war arena, it will try to sabotage the agreement, and thereby emulate the Jewish Samson [in the Bible] and prove, until the very last page of its history, that it is an organization that was founded to eliminate the [Palestinian] cause.”
[1] The expression "obvious lie" is taken from Quran 24:12: Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of one another and say, 'This is an obvious lie'?" Quranic exegetes explain that it refers to an incident in which the Prophet's wife Aisha was falsely accused of having had an affair with one of the Prophet's Companions, Safwan Ibn Mu'attal.
[2] The speech was aired on Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel on January 19, 2025, when the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect. In it Abu Obeida listed Hamas' achievements in the war and thanked the resistance axis, headed by Iran, as well as Jordanians who carried out terror attacks against Israel. See t.me/spokesman_2020, January 19, 2020.
[3] Dostor.org, January 20, 2025.