Abbas's Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash in Friday Sermon: Like Houthis, Hamas Should Face an Iron Fist

In a March 27, 2015 Friday sermon, PA Chief Islamic Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who serves as religious affairs advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said that "all coups against the legitimate rule in the Arab world must be crushed with an iron fist," like the Houthis in Yemen, and "first and foremost... the [Hamas] coup against the legitimate Palestinian rule."

Following are excerpts from the sermon, which aired on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel.

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: All coups against the legitimate rule in the Arab world must be crushed with an iron fist. Every single one of them, and first and foremost – first and foremost, I say – the [Hamas] coup against the legitimate Palestinian rule. Whoever tried or is trying to stage a coup against the legitimate Palestinian rule – there will be no dialogue with them, no discussion, no understanding, no nothing. There will be no dialogue with any coup, except in the appropriate language of the iron fist.

[...]

Perhaps our nation has come back to its senses, today, in Yemen. There are other cases in the Arab world that must be dealt with in the same decisive manner. They called it "Operation Decisive Storm," and all the empty calls that rebel against the legitimate rule in the Arab world must face the same decisiveness and might. Otherwise, everybody might pay heavily, and our nation might be lost.

[...]

[The rule of Hamas] constitutes a coup. This coup still exists. It is not a rift. There is no rift whatsoever among the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people is united and never succumbs to rifts. However, a rebellious force that violates the law has staged a coup against the legitimate rule, and it must be slapped on the hand with an iron fist.

[...]