Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahar Rejects Colleague’s Criticism of His Antisemitic Rant: The Jews Corrupted European Societies

During a Hamas parliamentary session, commemorating the 51st anniversary of the 1967 war, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar gave a long list of cases throughout history in which the Jews had been banished from the European countries in which they lived. "These [Jewish] groups corrupted the societies in which they lived through usury, the worship of money, extreme miserliness, and bribery," he said. He rejected the criticism of MP Yahya Al-Abadseh, who protested that the report of the Hamas Legislative Council should not include such things. "I will lend it [my book] to Dr. Al-Abadseh, so he can see that what appeared in the [report] is just a drop in the sea of what those people did in European history," said Al-Zahar. The June 5 session was broadcast by Al-Aqsa TV.

Mahmoud Al-Zahar: "Throughout their history, the Zionist Jews betrayed the Muslims who sheltered them, and who treated them in keeping with the moral values of Islam. This was a time when the Christians were deporting the Jews from their countries, in a long series of countless deportations – from which I have chosen some examples: They were deported from Rome in 139 BCE, as well as in 19 BCE. Then they were deported from France in 1253 and from Britain in 1280. They were deported from Germany in 1348 and from France in 1360. In the same year, they were deported from Hungary. In 1370, they were deported from Belgium. In 1380, they were deported from Slovenia. In 1420, they were deported from Austria, and from Holland in 1444. In 1492, they were deported from Spain, and in 1882 from Russia. There was a series of 120 deportations of Jews from Europe. This was because they betrayed the people among whom they lived, and worked against the interests of the societies that sheltered them. They betrayed those societies, in which they lived as spies. For example, they spied against the Persians for the Byzantines. These [Jewish] groups corrupted the societies in which they lived through usury, the worship of money, extreme miserliness, and bribery. Those nations considered them to be anti-Christian. The [Jews] lived in Europe according to the principle of rejection of non-Jews, whom they call Gentiles. They embraced the notion of the Jews being the victims throughout history, in order to take over Palestine."

Yahya Al-Abadseh: "I hope that the brothers who wrote this report will remove most of the first page, which deals with the persecution of the Jews and their deportation from European countries. This position makes us look as if we justify their deportation. This is not in line with our values or our beliefs. We do not approve of these deportations or of their reasons. Our position is that throughout history, whenever the Jews were deported, we Muslims accepted them. The standards of Europe at that time cannot possibly have been appropriate, because they were based on racism, and religious fanaticism. We must not get ourselves involved in all this. The report of the Legislative Council should not include such things, so that no one can claim that we support the philosophy of the Holocaust."

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Mahmoud Al-Zahar: "There were 120 deportations of Jews. This is no fabrication, and it is not about Nazism or antisemitism. This is part of history. I once wrote a book titled The Hatred of the Jews – Historical Heritage. I will lend it to Dr. Al-Abadseh, so he can see that what appeared in the [report] is just a drop in the sea of what those people did in European history. So this has nothing to do with the Holocaust or whatever. This is a matter of written history and not one's personal opinion."