'The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion' In The Hamas Charter: Islamization Of Western Antisemitism And Its Integration Into The Jihad Against The Jews

Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli citizens in their homes – accompanied by atrocities ordered by the Hamas leadership, in what it called "Operation Al-ʾAqṣā Flood" – is rooted in deep hatred of Jews and of Israel, the Jewish State. This hatred stems from two sources. The first views Israel as a foreign implant, the result of an invasion by infidels of waqf land )that is, an Islamic religious endowment).[1] This is land that belongs to God, and that only Muslims are permitted to own. Hamas believes that this land – "from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea " – became waqf during the early Islamic conquests shortly after the death of the Prophet Muḥammad, and that the Muslims are obligated to free it from the Jews through jihād (holy war). The second source is an antisemitic hatred of Jews wherever they are. This hatred stems from ancient sources of Islam (the Qurʾān, the Ḥadīth and their interpretations, as well as historical accounts of the Prophet's life). But it is also based on the image of the Jew that appears in antisemitic sources adopted from the realms of Christianity and the West.

Cover of an Arabic translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Image: https://books.e3raf.co/b13632/)

In the religious thought of Hamas members seeking to annihilate the Jews, three descriptions combine to result in an image of the Jew as the evil enemy of Islam and the entire world, throughout history and until the end of days. These three descriptions correspond to three historical stages: At the dawn of Islam, the Jews were Muḥammad's enemies. In modern times, the Jews are described in line with the antisemitic conspiracy of European origin, i.e. in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". And in the end of days war (which, according to Hamas, may already be occurring today), the Jews will appear alongside the  Dajjāl (the Antichrist) – the Muslims' horrible enemy, the false messiah, who will himself be a Jew (according to most sources). Immediately after the Dajjāl  is killed, the Muslims will obliterate the Jews.[2]

The people of Hamas consider today's Jews to be the same as those described in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" – those who have been working for hundreds of years to achieve world domination, and who spread plagues, wars and corruption throughout the world. In fact, according to the Hamas Charter, the Jews (and the infidels who do their bidding) seek to eliminate Islam itself, and thus it is evident that Hamas' war on the Jews is already associated with the end of days war that Islam will be obligated to fight against the Jews and all infidels who rise up against it.

Introduction: Global Jewish Evil And The "Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion"[3]

For more than a century, there has simmered among many people in the world a deep conviction that behind every great disaster that befalls society, and even humanity as a whole, stands a great evil – partly visible and  partly hidden – the Jew. Humanity will be saved, they believe, by harming and even exterminating the Jews. This position was widely disseminated in Europe during the 19th and especially the 20th century, resulting in severe persecution of the Jews through pogroms, torture and acts of slaughter that culminated in the horror of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Germans against the Jewish people.

The concept of global Jewish evil was implanted in the Islamic world even before the Holocaust, and since then has taken root in the consciousness of many Muslims. The Islamic version of this conspiracy theory holds that the Jews, besides coming to spread corruption, disease and destruction among all peoples of the world, specifically targeted the Arab world and Islam for their ruinous acts. According to this view, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel are central to the evil acts of world Jewry.

The propagators of the conspiracy theory have relied for more than 100 years on the antisemitic work "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (henceforth also the "Protocols"), which was first distributed in Europe and from there spread throughout the world. In their war against the Jews – including the massacre they conducted on October 7 in southern Israel – the people of Hamas also lean on the Protocols, whose contents, as will be shown below, appear extensively in  "The Hamas Charter, composed by its founders (the most famous of whom is Shaykh Aḥmad Yāsīn) and published in 1988.

In the religious thought of Hamas, the monstrous image of the Jews described in the Protocols was Islamized and linked in the education of its people also with other images of the Jews: as the enemies of Muḥammad; as those who - with their lackeys[4] - actuated the Crusaders' plot to return and conquer the Muslims, and as the Jewish enemy whom the Muslims will fight in the end of days. The people of Hamas are thus fighting a holy war of jihād against the "historic Jew," and the Protocols, according to their perception, show that the jihād waged against the Jews today is a continuation of the jihād that began at the dawn of Islam and will not end until the Jews are destroyed in the end of days.[5]

The Protocols in the Hamas Charter are read and heard as an authoritative Islamic religious text, and what they describe is understood to be part of Islamic religious history. Encountering the Protocols within the Charter, the believing reader finds himself called upon, out of religious devotion, to wage jihād against the jews and to destroy them in order to fulfill God's will.

1. The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion[6]

The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is a European antisemitic treatise which has been in wide circulation throughout the world for more than a century. The work, which exists in many languages, claims to contain 24 protocols stolen from the Jews which describe a longstanding, malicious Jewish plan to take over the world. To this end, the Jews overthrow governments, ignite coups and wars, and sow moral, social, governmental and economic chaos – all through sophistication, cunning, bribery, betrayal and even severe violence. In order to carry out their plan, the Jews have at their disposal a secret organization (the Freemasons), their control of the media and especially a vast fortune, which they continue to enlarge at the expense of the other peoples of the world.[7]

The Protocols, first published as a book in Russia in 1905,[8] was already in use at the beginning of the 20th century to incite pogroms against the Jews. The work was soon translated into many languages, distributed widely around the world and perhaps most famously and extensively used by the Nazis in World War II.  Although a number of courts and a variety of studies clarified that it was a complete forgery, the Protocols continue to be circulated to this day. [9] In fact, based on the view that the Protocols reflect a global Jewish conspiracy that continues to operate, over the years the propagators of the conspiracy have also accused the Jews of causing new catastrophes, such wars and illnesses, that did not yet exist when the Protocols were composed.[10]

The Protocols reached the Arab world in Arabic translation in the first half of the 20th century, and were widely distributed. They have been sold over the years in many editions and can be found in a large variety of media, films, television series, websites, political and academic literature, study programs, speeches and sermons. Their content is also distributed on social networks. By contrast with the West, where the Protocols are mainly distributed among antisemitic circles, in the Arab world they were and still are widely distributed through a great variety of publishing, media and educational tools and are usually presented as an authentic document faithfully describing the Jewish plan to control the world. The Zionist movement, the State of Israel and its war on the Arabs are also presented as part of the malicious plan of the Elders of Zion.[11]

2. The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion In The Hamas Charter[12]

The world view that emerges from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is enmeshed throughout the Charter. Direct excerpts from the Protocols appear in nine of the Charter's articles, and its influence can be seen in several others.[13] The two articles in which the Protocols are most clearly recognized are Article 32, in which they are mentioned by name as evidence of the plan of the Jews (who the Charter also calls "Zionists," "the enemies" and even "Nazis"),[14] and Article 22, the most extensive in the Charter, which includes a particularly detailed summary of the contents of the Protocols in its description of the harmful actions of the Jews throughout history against all of humanity, and especially against Islam.

The Charter's reader learns that the Jews gained control of the media and capital markets, operated and still operate secret espionage and ruinous organizations that spread corruption, alcohol and drugs, while threatening Islam, Muslim women, Muslim society and even the entire world. The Jews invaded most of the world's countries, and are behind most revolutions (including the French and Bolshevik revolutions) as well as all wars taking place throughout the world. The Jews propelled the colonialist forces who obey them to conquer large parts of the world, and impelled them, as well as the secret organizations who do their bidding, to act to eliminate Islam, just as they already succeeded in eliminating the institution of the Muslim Caliphate, when through the First World War they perpetrated the overthrow of the Ottoman Caliphate. They even established global governing organizations - the League of Nations, followed by the United Nations and its Security Council – through which to rule the world.

At the Jews' behest, the colonialists implemented the Crusaders' plan to regain control of Muslim society through an ideological invasion that would sow confusion among the Muslims, undermine their culture and pave the way for their conquest. The Charter stresses the need for the restoration of Muslim culture from the severe damage caused by this ideological invasion.

The global forces that obey the Jews have been obstructing the Muslim Brotherhood's jihād and the Palestinians' fight against the Jews in Palestine for decades, from 1936 until the appearance of Hamas.[15]

3. Islamization Of The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion In The Hamas Charter

The European edition of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" emphasized the Jews' desire to overthrow the world's governments in order to impose global Jewish rule. The Hamas Charter adopts the European accusations, but adds an element unique to the Islamic world: the Jews also strive to destroy Islam.

The idea of Jews undermining Islam is not foreign to Muslim heritage.  Stories of Jewish attempts to harm Islam span the past to future, from Muḥammad's days to the end of days, are found in both ancient sources and contemporary writings. The description of Jewish iniquities in the Protocols are thus easily aligned with the past and future exploits of the Jews against Islam, as presented in the education of the people of Hamas.

Moreover, the Hamas Charter Islamized the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" by redesigning them in the style characteristic of high Islamic religious literature, and by integrating them into Islamic history. When the devout reader of the Charter encounters excerpts from the Protocols, it does not even occur to him that the text might originate outside the Islamic world. He sees only a sublime and authoritative Islamic text that plays on his religious feelings and urges him to fulfill a sacred religious duty: to go fight the Jews.

The Charter uses three tools to Islamize the Protocols:

1. The Protocols are woven into an authoritative Islamic religious text. The Charter is rich in quotations from the Qurʾān, the Ḥadīth and Sharīʿa law literature, as well as utterances and poetic lyrics from revered religious figures of ancient and modern times. The Charter is also filled throughout with expressions and religious ideas typical of religious discourse (such as Allāh, ʾIslām, Sunna, Khalīfa, al-Masjid al-ʾAqṣā and shahīd, as well as typical blessings connected to the mention of God, the Prophet, revered Islamic figures and many other expressions and concepts). These expressions and concepts, together with the citations from the Islamic sources, comprise more than a third of the Charter. The Charter's reader is moved, as if he were hearing a fine sermon delivered in a mosque by a well-known and revered religious scholar.[16] From this experience of holiness, he becomes familiar with the descriptions of the Jews – adopted from the Protocols - as an absolute religious truth.

2. The Protocols are woven together with quotations from religious sources. The Protocol's contents are interspersed with quotations from the Qurʾān or Ḥadīth, giving the narrator the imprimatur of divine truth[17] in addition to the religious experience evoked in the reader. A clear example of this appears in Article 22, in which a Qurʾānic verse (in italics below) appears as the direct continuation of a sentence from the Protocols[18]: "... There is no end to what can be said about [their involvement in] local wars and world wars … Wherever there is war in the world, it is they who are pulling the strings behind the scenes. "Whenever they ignite the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They strive to spread evil in the land, but Allah does not love those who do evil". (Qurʾān, 5:64). "

In this example, the reader finds a Jewish threat emerging from the Protocols: the Jews cause all the world's wars. This is instantly woven into a strong Islamic context: a Qurʾānic verse confirming the Protocols' accusation that the Jews are the instigators of wars. The verse also provides a religious Islamic solution to the Jewish threat: Allāh does not like the corruptors who incite the wars and guarantees their failure (He will extinguish the fire of war that they started). Again, the devout reader is encouraged by the Qurʾān to obey God's will and fight the Jews.

Another example of the same Islamizing method appears in Article 7. This time the Protocols are woven into the Ḥadīth literature. Here too appears the pattern of enmeshing the Protocol's portrayal of Jewish evil in an Islamic context, with the promise of an Islamic cure for the Jewish harm. The Charter says that world powers doing the Zionists' bidding (a motif taken from the Protocols) have acted since 1936 to obstruct the jihād fighters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinians fighting the Jews, a jihād in which the Hamas movement also participates. The threat arising from the Protocols (of world powers doing the Jews' bidding) is thus integrated and assimilated into the historical Islamic context of jihād. The threat is significant, since the obstacles placed by those serving the Zionists indeed forced long-term pauses in repeated rounds of fighting (the jihād cells that are specifically mentioned were active in 1936, 1948 and 1968). The Charter then offers an Islamic salve for the evil damage done by those serving Zionism and reassures the reader through a divine promise that appears in the Prophet's words from the Ḥadīth: "... Although these links are far apart, and although the continuity of jihād was interrupted by obstacles placed in the path of the jihād fighters by those who circle in the orbit of Zionism, the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: 'The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him," except for the gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.' (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim)… ".[19]

It is worth stressing that, with these words, the Charter places itself, as well as the Protocols, in the category of apocalyptic literature of Islam, since the quoted tradition deals with the end of days war of Islam.[20]

3. According to the Charter, the Protocols set the destruction of Islam as the goal of the Jews. The Charter conveys that Judaism and the Jews are in their very essence the enemies of Islam and Muslims. This is evidenced by the dramatic ending of Article 28 (one of the most blatant and fiercely antisemitic articles of the Charter): "...Israel with its Jewish identity and Jewish people is challenging Islam and the Muslims....".

According to the Charter, the clandestine organizations operating at the Jews' behest (a motif from the Protocols) seek to eliminate Islam. The first half of Article 28 describes these secret organizations, and how they do not cease to wreak havoc and corruption in society. At the peak of the description, the article states that the aim of these organizations is to "… annihilate Islam".

The Charter considers Jewish actions against Islam in the modern age to be a continuation of the Crusader plan directed against Muslims in the Middle Ages. As mentioned above, the Charter claims that, after being defeated, the Crusaders planned to return and subdue the Muslims first by introducing confusion to their religious faith through an "ideological invasion"[21] and then, once the Muslim faith was weakened, by launching a military invasion to conquer them. And indeed, after a cultural invasion that undermined the Muslim faith, the colonialist armies arrived and conquered the Muslims. Even after the occupation, the colonialist forces continued to harm Islamic culture and further undermine the Muslims' faith. According to the Hamas Charter, these colonialist forces acted at the direction of the Jews. The impression is that the Jews put the Crusader plan to conquer the Muslims into action, and also that ongoing damage to Islam by colonialism can be attributed to the Jews. This accusation appears in several places in the Charter that stress the deep historical connection between the Crusader invasion of the past and the Jewish invasion of the present.[22]

The Jews overthrew the Ottoman Caliphate. Article 22 of the Charter states that the Jews, who were responsible for World War I, brought about the destruction of the Caliphate. The overthrow of the Ottoman Caliphate is famous in Islamist discourse as a mortal blow and a symbol of Islam's defeat by the West.[23]

The Jews will lead all the global infidel forces in their war against Islam. Article 22 expands the Charter's scope from the present to the future foreseen in Islamic sources. The article (which already linked the Protocols to the Qurʾānic verse, as mentioned above) further Islamizes the Protocols by connecting them to a well-known saying attributed to the second caliph, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (died in 644), one of the two most authoritative figures after the Prophet Muḥammad in Sunni Islam.[24] The article asserts that the infidels, in both the Communist East and Capitalist West, serve the Jews,[25] and that later, when Islam appears, all the infidel forces will unite to fight Islam together, since "the infidel nation is one" (the phrase at the end of this paragraph is attributed to ʿUmar).

These sayings in Article 22 also seem to allude to the war of the end of days and tie the Protocols to the apocalyptic Islamic timeline reaching from the beginning of Islam to the end of days.

In conclusion, the people of Hamas, in rising up to slaughter the Jews, see before them the bitter enemies of Islam and all humanity. Although they currently aim their weapons at contemporary Jews for usurping Islamic lands, they are deeply convinced that the enemy before them is eternal, and obeyed by mighty infidel forces. This is the "historic Jew" who has not ceased his terrible crimes throughout history, precisely as described in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". In fact, the Jew depicted in the Hamas Charter seeks not only global hegemony through the destruction of human societies, as depicted in the Protocols, but also the eradication of Islam. The people of Hamas are convinced that God has imposed on them the sacred duty to wage jihād against the Jews. And they also believe that the divine promise of the Prophet, according to which the Muslims will annihilate the Jews, may even be fulfilled in our time.

Appendix: Translated Excerpts Of The Hamas Charter, By Subject, And Discussion

The following are translated excerpts of the Charter that cite or allude to the "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

A. From Articles 32, 22: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" – the document's name and the historical picture it paints.[26]

Article 32 introduces the Charter's reader to the title of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as evidence of the limitless reach of the Jewish plan. This is the only article in which the Protocols are mentioned by name.

Article 22 introduces the reader to a wide-ranging historical picture of Jewish iniquities over the centuries, an image based on the Protocols. To this, the Charter adds the misdeeds of the Jews against the Islamic world. (Excerpts from these two articles will be presented again, as part of the issues discussed below.)

Article 32: The Charter accuses "World Zionism and the colonialist powers" of trying to remove the Arab countries one by one from the circle of conflict with Zionism, so that the Palestinian people will be left alone in the struggle. It sternly warns the Arab and Islamic nations against the Zionist plan found in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion": "…Today it is Palestine, and tomorrow some other country or countries, for the Zionist plan has no limits, and after Palestine they want to expand [their territory] from the Nile to the Euphrates, and when they finish devouring one area, they hunger for further expansion and so on, indefinitely. Their plan is expounded in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present [behavior] is the best proof for what we are saying.."

Article 22: "The Forces which Support the Enemy: The enemies have been planning expertly and thoroughly for a long time in order to achieve what they have achieved, employing those means which affect the course of events. They strove to accumulate huge financial resources which they used to realize their dream.

"With money they have taken control of the world media - news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting services, etc. With money they sparked revolutions in various countries around the world in order to serve their interests and to reap profits. They were behind the French Revolution and the Communist Revolution and [they are behind] most of the revolutions about which we hear from time to time here and there. With money they have formed secret organizations, all over the world, in order to destroy [those countries'] societies and to serve the Zionists' interests, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions, the Sons of the Covenant [i.e. B'nei B'rith], etc. All of these are organizations of espionage and sabotage. With money they were able to take control of the colonialist countries, and [they] urged them to colonize many countries so that they could exploit their resources and spread moral corruption there.

"There is no end to what can be said about [their involvement in] local wars and world wars. They were behind World War I, through which they achieved the destruction of the Islamic Caliphate, reaped material profits, took control of numerous resources, obtained the Balfour Declaration, and established the League of the United Nations [sic] so as to rule the world through this organization. They were [also] behind World War II, through which they reaped enormous profits from commerce in war materials[27] and paved the way for the establishment of their state. They [also] suggested the formation of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of the United Nations [sic] and to rule the world through this [new organization]. Wherever there is war in the world, it is they who are pulling the strings behind the scenes. "Whenever they ignite the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They strive to spread evil in the land, but Allah does not love those who do evil." (Koran, 5:64)

"The colonialist powers, both in the capitalist West and the communist East, support the enemy with all their might, both materially and with manpower, alternating one with the other [in giving support]. When Islam appears, all the forces of unbelief unite to oppose it, for all unbelief is one denomination.

"Oh you who believe, do not take as your intimate friends those outside your ranks, for they will spare no effort to harm you. They desire that which causes you suffering. Hatred has indeed come out of their mouths, but what they hide in their hearts is even worse. We have given you clear signs, if you understand" (Koran, 3:118). It is not for nothing that the verse ends with His words "if you understand."

B. From Articles 17, 22 and 30 – Jews control the shaping of consciousness through the media, education and capital.

The Charter stresses the importance of the media, education and culture as tools to shape consciousness - both in Muslim hands, to shape proper Muslim consciousness, and as a longstanding tool in Jewish hands, who use it to weaken countries and especially to harm the Muslims.

Article 22: This article, as quoted above, notes Jewish control of the means of education and communication.

"…With money they have taken control of the world media - news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting services, etc. …".

Article 17: This article deals with the Muslim woman. It describes the Jews' fierce attack precisely on the consciousness of the Muslim woman as a tool to achieve their victory, since they know that women educate the future generations of Muslims. The Jews therefore make an unceasing effort to educate the woman as they wish and to distance her from Islam, and this "... by means of the media, the cinema and school curricula..." under their control.

Article 30: Here the Charter calls on the educated from all fields - writers, intellectuals, media people, orators, educators, etc. - to take part in the jihād through useful writing, proper discourse and education, and this "…due to the ferocity of the Zionist onslaught and the fact that it has infiltrated many countries and has taken control of the finances and media - with all the ramifications that follow from this - in most countries of the world..."

C. From Articles 17, 22, 28 - Destructive organizations acting at the Jews' behest.

The Charter states that the Jews have been operating global organizations, some of them clandestine, for hundreds of years. It specifically mentions the Freemasons, known in Europe as a secret society since the Middle Ages, as one such organization.

Already in 18th century Europe, the Freemasons were accused of underground activity against the regime and the church, of trying to fragment society and spark revolutions (including the French Revolution). The concept that the Freemasons work together with the Jews was known already at the beginning of the 19th century. According to the European version of the Protocols, the Freemasons act as a tool in the hands of the Jews. This claim is very common, and is even mentioned in Hitler's book "Mein Kampf". It is also widely claimed in the Islamic world that the Freemasons act in service of the Jews and Zionism.[28]

The Hamas Charter adopts the accusation that the Freemasons are agents of the Jews, and adds two global, social organizations, founded in the 20th century, to the list of those who do the Jews' bidding – The Rotary Club and Lions Club - as well as B'nai Brith, a Jewish organization founded in the 19th century. More organizations stand at the Jews' disposal, the Charter states, but it does not specify them by name. The multiplicity of clandestine organizations allows the Charter to sharpen the image of the Jew as an enemy of rare strength whose harmful hand works at any time and in every place. In fact, according to the Charter, even the League of Nations, the United Nations and its Security Council were created by the Jews to control the world.[29]

The Jews are therefore a global, not just local, enemy. And every organization in the world, even the visible ones, must be suspected of being managed by their agents, as must every global disaster.

Article 22: "... With money they have formed secret organizations, all over the world, in order to destroy [those countries'] societies and to serve the Zionists' interests, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions, the Sons of the Covenant [i.e. B'nei B'rith], etc. All of these are organizations of espionage and sabotage. …"

Through World War I, the Jews "obtained the Balfour Declaration, and established the League of the United Nations [sic] so as to rule the world through this organization…" [And through World War II] "... They [also] suggested the formation of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of the United Nations [sic] and to rule the world through this [new organization]."

Article 17: "… You find, therefore, that they continually make great efforts [to do this] by means of the media, the cinema and school curricula, through their agents who are incorporated in Zionist organizations that assume various names and forms such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups, etc. - all of which are dens of sabotage and saboteurs. These Zionist organizations have an enormous abundance of material resources, which enable them to play their game in [various] societies with the aim of realizing their purpose while Islam is absent from the scene and the Muslims are estranged [from their faith]..."

Article 28: This article, one of the Charter's most venomous in its blatant antisemitism,[30] opens with a vivid description of the destructive, clandestine organizations that serve the Jews:

"The Zionist invasion[31] is a cruel invasion, which has no scruples whatsoever; it uses every vicious and vile method to achieve its goals. In its infiltration and espionage operations, it greatly relies on secret organizations which grew out of it, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions and other such espionage groups. All these organizations, covert or overt, work for the interests of Zionism and under its direction, and their aim is to break societies, undermine values, destroy people's honor, create moral degeneration and annihilate Islam. [Zionism] is behind all types of trafficking in drugs and alcohol, so as to make it easier for it to take control and expand."

D. From Articles 7, 15, 22, 27 - Global forces under Jewish control.

The image of the Jews as invaders who long ago infiltrated many countries, and who control greatly influential global forces, is noted in the Charter even without explicit mention of the organizations at their disposal. Prominent among these forces are the colonialists who obey the Jews and unnamed global forces that do the Jews' bidding.

The Colonialist Forces

Article 22 of the Charter states that the Jews have been setting global, historical events in motion for hundreds of years ("they stood behind the French Revolution") and that they prompted colonialist forces, which they overtook, to conquer the Islamic world.

Article 22 connects these comments to those in Article 15, and together the two articles link the age-old activity of the Jews to the Crusaders themselves, in the following way: when the armies of the colonialist countries, which were controlled and propelled by the Jews, occupied the Muslim countries, they then implemented a plan devised by the Crusaders to return and conquer the Muslims, first by undermining their religious identity, and then through military occupation.

More articles in the Charter indicate that the colonialist forces act in service of the Jews. Some also teach that the colonialist forces continue to undermine Islamic culture, making it a Muslim duty to cleanse Islamic culture of their harmful influence. The clauses follow, divided into two groups.

Clauses illustrating Jewish control in colonialist countries (Article 22) and cooperation between global Zionism and colonialist forces (Article 32):

Article 22: "…With money they were able to take control of the colonialist countries, and [they] urged them to colonize many countries so that they could exploit their resources and spread moral corruption there…"

Article 32: " World Zionism and the colonialist powers attempt, by clever maneuvering and meticulous planning, to pull the Arab states, one by one, out of the circle of the conflict with Zionism, so as to ultimately isolate the Palestinian people. …"

Clauses illustrating that the Crusaders conceived the notion of ideological confusion that consequently allowed colonialist forces to conquer the Muslims (Article 15), and that colonialism intensified the ideological invasion (Article 27), and that eliminating the effects of the ideological invasion is essential to defeat Zionism (Article 35):

Article 15: This article states that it is necessary for the educated, religious scholars, educators and media people to reshape Muslim consciousness "in order to eliminate the influences of the intellectual invasion which were inflicted upon them by the Orientalists and the missionaries. This invasion came upon the region after Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi defeated the Crusaders. The Crusaders then realized that it is impossible to vanquish the Muslims unless the way is first paved by an intellectual invasion that would confuse the [Muslims'] thinking, distort their legacy and impugn their ideals. Only after this [intellectual invasion] would there come invasion with troops. This [intellectual invasion] prepared the ground for the colonialist invasion…".[32]

Article 27: According to this section, the support of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for the idea of a secular state as well as the ideological confusion prevailing in the Arab world are "... a result of the intellectual invasion to which it has been subject since the defeat of the Crusaders, and which was intensified, and continues to be intensified by Orientalism and Christian missionary activities and colonialism..."

Article 35: This article calls for learning how to defeat the Zionist invasion from the way the Crusaders and the Mongols were vanquished before them, and says that routing the Zionist invasion is "...  not difficult for Allah, providing that intentions are sincere and resolve is strong, and that Muslims draw benefit from the experiences of the past, shed off the influences of the intellectual invasion, and follow the ways of their predecessors."

The Unnamed Global Forces

The Charter notes that global forces operate in the Islamic and Palestinian arenas under the Jews' direction. These forces support the Jews and oppose the jihād waged by the Muslims against them.

The following are excerpts teaching that foreign forces acting on behalf of the Zionists place obstacles in the path of the jihād warriors in Palestine (Article 7), that those who obey the Jews are responsible for conflicts among the Palestinian nationalist movements (Article 25) and that it is necessary to study the nature of the forces aiding the enemy carefully, in order to form a world view worthy of a Muslim engaged in jihād (Article16). In its last article - Article 36 - the Charter deems it appropriate particularly to emphasize that global forces galvanized by the Jewish enemies act alongside them.

Article 7: This article asserts that, even though these forces may obstruct the various units fighting the Jews in Palestine, the foreign forces controlled by Zionism cannot stop the jihād, which will continue until the end of days. (Already then, this jihād had seen fighting by ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Qassām and the Muslim Brotherhood in 1936, the Palestinians and the Muslim Brotherhood in 1948, the Muslim Brotherhood in 1968 and others after them. Now Hamas also participates.): "…Although these links are far apart, and although the continuity of jihād was interrupted by obstacles placed in the path of the jihād fighters by those who circle in the orbit of Zionism, the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: 'The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him," except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.' (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim)."[33]

Article 25: Any trend or position that contradicts the harmonious cooperation promised by  Hamas to the nationalist groups operating in the Palestinian arena are "... fabricated by the enemy or by their lackeys in order to cause confusion, divide the ranks and create distraction with side issues.…"

Article 16: "It is necessary to educate the next Islamic generations in our region in an Islamic way … In addition, it is necessary to closely study the enemy and his material and human capabilities, to become familiar with his weaknesses and strengths, to recognize the powers that assist and support him. …"

Article 36: The ending of a text has a significant impact on the reader's memory and consciousness. The final article of the Charter states that the Hamas movement promises to " always offer nothing but help to all groups and organizations that strive against the Zionist enemy and against its lackeys...."

 

* Dr. Eliyahu Stern is a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a research fellow at MEMRI.

 

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On the prevailing identification of Zionism with Nazism in the antisemitism of the Arab world, see Menahem Milson's lecture delivered at the opening of the annual international conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, held in Jerusalem on February 24, 2008. MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 442, Arab and Islamic Antisemitism, May 29, 2008. .

On the great importance of this apocalyptic tradition in modern apocalyptic literature, see David Cook, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature, Syracuse University Press, New York, 2008, pp. 35-36.

Elsewhere, I discussed how Article 7, and especially its mention of the tradition of the "stones and the trees," may evidence a proximity to the concepts of ISIS and an opportunity to identify ISIS influence on Hamas thinking today, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1745 - The Hadith Of The Stones And The Trees – About The Muslims Killing The Jews Ahead Of The End of Days – In The Hamas Charter And In A Publication Of The Hamas-Affiliated Palestine Scholars Association – February 15, 2024.

On the use of the Ḥadīth in the educational system of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as surveyed by IMPACT-se in 2022, see Eliyahu Stern, "The Use of Religious Themes to Islamize European Antisemitism and Motivate Hateful Expression in the Hamas Covenant," in Religion, Hateful Expression and Violence, Morten Bergsmo and Kishan Manocha (eds.), Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, Brussels, 2023, pp. 799, note 32. Chapter link: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/wzbk17/.

For more on the use of the "stones and trees" tradition in curricula, see MEMRI's 2009 publication on its presence in the Saudi curriculum, for example,

https://www.memri.org/reports/liberal-saudi-columnist-wahhabism-state-religion-theres-no-chance-reform-saudi-schools

Even earlier, in 2004, MEMRI published an Egyptian liberal's criticism of the tradition's appearance in the Saudi curriculum, noting that, alongside the tradition of trees and stones, the designer of the Saudi curriculum even included the assertion that Jews often plant gharqad trees https://www.memri.org/reports/egyptian-progressive-criticizes-muslim-intellectual-doublespeak.  MEMRI also cited a Tunisian intellectual who, in his criticism of the Saudi education system, noted among other things that Bin Laden learned the Ḥadīth tradition about the trees and stones and the gharqad tree from Saudi textbooks. The Tunisian quoted a Saudi textbook in which he said it is written that "the gharqad is a large and thorny tree that the Jews often plant in Palestine today"  https://www.memri.org/reports/tunisian-intellectual-al-afif-al-akhdar-arab-identity-crisis-and-education

This tradition is also frequently quoted in sermons, and it has long been customary to state that the Jews, who are aware of their coming end, often plant Gharqad trees in all their places of residence. See, for example, Bin Laden's 2003 sermon on the Muslim "Feast of Sacrifice" (ʿīd al-ʾaḍḥā) , posted on Islamist social networks and Al Jazeera https://www.memri.org/reports/bin-ladens-sermon-feast-sacrifice and also https://www.memri.org/reports/contemporary-islamist-ideology-authorizing-genocidal-murder ; use of the tradition in a Friday sermon to encourage suicide attacks, televised by the Palestinian Authority in 2001

https://www.memri.org/reports/contemporary-islamist-ideology-authorizing-genocidal-murder ; and in a sermon delivered about a month later in Gaza  https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?431&findWords=%D7%A2%27%D7%A8%D7%A7%D7%93%20%22%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%99%20%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%22 (Hebrew). See also the summary of Friday sermons published by MEMRI in September 2001, https://www.memri.org.il/cgi-webaxy/item?431&findWords=%D7%A2%27%D7%A8%D7%A7%D7%93 (Hebrew), and another summary published by MEMRI in 2002 of sermons delivered by Saudi sheikhs at the end of the last century and beginning of the current century, in which the Ḥadīth tradition appears, sometimes alongside mention of the Jews planting many Gharqad trees, https://www.memri.org/reports/friday-sermons-saudi-mosques-review-and-analysis. MEMRI's publications also include a video showing many preachers, one after another, reciting the tradition. The last clip also includes the claim that anyone who opens Google Earth on their computer can see for themselves that the Jews who know and believe in this tradition are preparing for the coming of the end of days with massive planting of Gharqad trees in all their places of residence. It is also said that every last Jew will be exterminated,  https://www.facebook.com/memri.org/videos/10156605905024717/.

See also a sermon on Hamas' television station, Al-Aqsa TV, in Meir Litvak, "Martyrdom is Life: Jihad and Martyrdom in the Ideology of Hamas," in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 33:8, 2010, p. 727.