Earlier this week, the spokesman for the Al-Qassam militia, Abu Obeida, released a pre-recorded speech on the occasion of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The speech featured some predictable content, including lauding the Gazan population for what he deemed a ‘victory,’ calling to ‘escalate’ frictions against Israeli forces in Judea and Samaria, commending the Islamic Republic and its proxies, and warning against the failure of normalization with Israel.
However, one peculiar point stood out: a theological one, which may provide a glimpse into the modus operandi and way of thinking of Hamas and its militia. The Al-Qassam spokesman chose to open his speech with the following verses from the Quran (17:4):
“And We (meaning Allah) warned the Children of Israel in the Scripture, ‘You will certainly cause corruption in the land twice, and you will become extremely arrogant. When the first of the two warnings would come to pass, We would send against you some of Our servants of great might, who would ravage your homes. This would be a warning fulfilled… And when the second warning would come to pass, your enemies would be left to totally disgrace you and enter that place of worship as they entered it the first time, and utterly destroy whatever would fall into their hands.”
Most Jews who read these verses would understand almost immediately that they refer to the destruction of the First and Second Temples, albeit in a slightly altered version. The question remains: why would Abu Obeida begin his speech with these quotes specifically?
It is plausible that the Al-Qassam militia’s spokesman was using this Quranic reference to allude to what he deemed are the current ‘sins’ of the Children of Israel, to explain the background for Hamas’ massacre against Israel on October 7, 2023: ‘corruption’ and ‘arrogance.’ In this context, Abu Obeida explains Hamas’s role as that of “the servants of Allah” who were chosen by God himself to execute a heavenly retaliation against Israel. It is not implausible that he even waved the Quranic warning that next time they will really enter “the place of worship” (‘masjid,’ or mosque in the original Arabic version) as referring to the “freeing of Al-Aqsa” in their view.
This self-perception of Hamas as carriers of the Allah’s mission of to “punish sinners” can also be found in Hamas’s chosen name for the October 7th massacre and the war that ensued: “Toufan Al-Aqsa,” popularly translated as the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” but more accurately translated as the “Al-Aqsa Deluge.” Just as Noah’s deluge was sent to drown the sinners, so too Hamas potentially view themselves as carrying that heavenly message to purge the land of the “Israeli” sins.
It should be noted that Islamist actors have been trying for decades to break the link between the ancient Israelites and Judeans – and the current Jews. This link, which for most Jews is obvious and seen as an organic process of a nation’s historical development, is seen as a vital target for some forces, who are acting relentlessly to ignore, deny and erase any link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, facilitating the claim that Jews are ‘colonialists’ who usurped a land that is not theirs.
In this context, one may claim that Abu Obeida’s quote may serve, in fact, as an implied admittance of modern Israel’s relation to the ancient one: if Hamas are the Romans or Babylonians, who were sent to purge the land of the Israelite’s sin, this could be somewhat of an admission that ancient Israelites and modern Jews are one and the same.
The ‘true’ Israel
However, it appears that, in Hamas’s theology, Hamas are not merely the Romans or the Babylonians who come to punish the Jews – but can rather also be the Israelites themselves. The logo chosen for the ‘Al-Aqsa Deluge’ also showcases, in addition to a Qassam militant holding a Quran, a flag of the Shahada (bearing witness of Allah’s oneness) and an M16 rifle, a verse from the Quran (5:23) stylized in the shape of the Dome of the Rock, which reads: “Enter upon them through the gate, and when you enter it, you will be the victors.”
This Quranic verse chosen to describe in a chilling way the plan to infiltrate the gates of the kibbutzim and the posts on October 7th, is brought in its original context as part of the Quranic version of the Biblical affair of the Twelve Spies: Moses calls the Israelites to enter the land that Allah has promised them, but they hesitate out of fear of the giants that roam the land: “We will never enter it until they (the giants) have gone out from it.” Here, two God-fearing and nameless men – Joshua and Caleb in the Biblical version – tell them this exact quote: “Enter them at the gate!”
In other words, Hamas has chosen to invoke the verse that calls the Israelites to enter at the gate and defeat the giants who roam and occupy the promised land – as a method of branding their own actions. Here it is almost clear that, as far as they are concerned, Hamas are the true Israelites, and the Jews in the State of Israel are the giants and sinners.
This notion of supersession, consistent with Islamic texts accusing Jews (and Christians) of distorting the Holy Scriptures and the true religion of Allah, should be taken into account when dealing with Hamas’s ideology.
As the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s Islamist approach, promoted by governments in Qatar and Türkiye, also features many instances of antisemitism, from a direct reference to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in their founding charter – to leaders prophesying a cosmic massacre against the Jews in the End of Days led by faithful men of faith. Rather than laic, terms such as ‘nationalism’ or ‘anti-imperialism,’ often imposed on other ideologies out of a narrow Eurocentric prism, any analysis, research or decision making which involves Hamas must take into account supersessionism, messianism and antisemitism, all part and parcel of the ideological incentives driving them and their followers.
Jesus Christ is King
