Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad in Farewell Speech Calls Fatah to Join Jihad: Bullets and Bombs Are Music to Our Ears

In a farewell speech following the establishment of the Palestinian unity government, Hamas Minister of the Interior Fathi Hammad addressed Fatah members with a call to join Hamas in waging Jihad. In the June 2, 2014 speech, broadcast by Al-Aqsa TV, Hammad said that "the whistling of bullets, the sound of bombs and missiles exploding for the sake of Allah, and the capture of [Israeli] soldiers" was "music to our ears."

Following are excerpts:

Fathi Hammad: This land is mentioned in the Quran 64 times. We are the people of the Quran. Anyone who lives in Palestine must be from among the people of the Quran, not the people of security cooperation [with Israel].

Whenever [Mahmoud Abbas] returns from abroad, he begins to play his games: "I can't do it." "The situation is very difficult." Enough with that!

This is no time to back down. This is a time to be real men, a time for determination, a time for Jihad, a time for resolution, a time to make sacrifices for the sake of Allah.

[...]

We are not moved by the beat of drums or by the clapping of hands. What moves us is the whistling of bullets, the sound of bombs and missiles exploding for the sake of Allah, and the capture of [Israeli] soldiers in order to swap them with our prisoners. That is what moves us. This is music to our ears. This is our anthem, our songs.

Audience: Allah Akbar, all praise be to Allah.

Allah Akbar, all praise be to Allah.

[...]

Fathi Hammad: I would like to address our Palestinian brothers in Fatah, and say: come join us. Return to your religion, to your homeland, to your Jihad. We are up to the task. It is us to whom you should turn. Do not turn to the Americans, to the Zionists, to the hypocrites, or to [your] feeble leadership, which has sold out... Turn to us, the group that wages Jihad for the sake of Allah.

[...]