The term ‘Jihad with Money’ has two different meanings, the article’s author suggests.

“The general meaning [of the term] is to give money to charitable causes for the pleasure of God Almighty: to help the poor and needy, construct hospitals, mosques, schools, colleges and universities, [to assist] orphans and students, and help the unemployed.”

That sounds like an respectable concept – until you read on for the ‘special’ meaning.

“The special meaning: to make money for combat, such as the purchase of weapons, gear and clothing, and to develop the means to build factories for weapons and to support the families of the Mujahideen [terror fighters] and their families.”

For Hamas, charity and Jihad are one and the same. Hamas built their power base and gained the support of ordinary Gazans thanks to their extensive charity network. They also collect money around the world, ostensibly for the benefit of the Gazan people. But much of that money never gets to the people for whom Hamas claims it is intended.

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ website calls on its readers to give ‘zakat’, or charity, generously, and suggests that the Hamas government spends that money on a wide range of charity projects, in addition to its military activities. By associating its military activities with its charity work, Hamas attempts to justify its spending. But do not be fooled: Hamas’ priority number one is terror – and helping ordinary Gazans in need comes a distant second.

Gazans living in poverty

“I brought them up to be martyrs. To become martyrs for the name of Allah. There wasn’t a definite time in which they told me that they wanted to become martyrs. I instilled this in them and they followed it… and the ones who just started – they are going to continue.”

- Umm Nidal (Mariam Farhat) in interview with National Geographic, 2009

Mariam Farhat, a former member of parliament for Hamas in Gaza, raised each of her six sons to commit terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. She hoped that each of them would die in the process – that each of them would become a ‘martyr’. Now, her young grandchildren are propagating the same message on Hamas TV.

In March 2002, Farhat’s 17-year-old son Muhammad entered an Israeli community, opened fire on school children and threw hand grenades at their school. He killed five students and wounded 23 others. When Farhat heard that her son was dead, she shouted in joy and handed out boxes of halva and chocolates to well-wishers. In a video released after the attack, Farhat stands next to Mohammad as he is about to depart on his suicide mission. “How do I feel, as I promise my son paradise?” she asks rhetorically. “By Allah, today is the best day of my life.”

Another son, Rawad, was killed when an IDF strike hit his car, in which he was carrying a Qassam rocket. Farhat’s eldest son, Nidal, manufactured rockets for Hamas – rockets that were later used to attack Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Farhat later become known as Umm Nidal – mother of Nidal.  After Nidal was killed by Israeli security forces, Farhat told his 4-year-old son, Imad, that he would be reunited with his father. “You will be a martyr one day,” Farhat told him, “and then you will go and see your dad.” In 2009, she told National Geographic that she was pushing her other children to become ‘martyrs’:

Farhat passed away earlier this year, but she succeeded in passing on her message of hate to the next generation. A month after her death, Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV aired a children’s television program featuring a number of her grandchildren. When the child presenter of the show asks Nidal’s daughter whether she is proud of her father for producing missiles, her response is a simple “yes”. “Would you like to follow in his footsteps?” the presenter asks. “Yes,” she replies again.

Later in the episode, Farhat’s grandchildren join together in song: “Jihad bestows pride and glory upon you when you become a martyrdom-seeker,” they sing. “Oh explosive device of glory – with her blood she created freedom.”

At the end of the show, the presenter praises Farhat. “She raised her children from an early age on love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah, as well as on love of the homeland and its defense. We should learn from them. We should wage Jihad and persevere, in order to liberate this land.”

“The only reason he loved life was Jihad”

In an interview with London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published in 2002, Farhat explained the process of raising a child to become a suicide bomber. “Because I love my son, I encouraged him to die a martyr’s death for the sake of Allah,” she said. “This is the atmosphere in which the love of martyrdom developed in Muhammad’s soul. I, as a mother, naturally encouraged the love of Jihad in the soul of Muhammad and in the souls of all my sons, all of whom belong to the Al-Qassam Brigades.”

“Muhammad was willing to carry out any martyrdom operation… He swore to me that the only reason he loved life was Jihad,” she continued. “He would brandish his weapon and tell me: ‘Mom, this is my bride.’ He loved his gun so much.”

Farhat’s capacity for sacrificing her children and sending them to their deaths knew no bounds. “I wish I had 100 boys like Mohammad,” she said. “I’d sacrifice them for the sake of Allah.” Her grandchildren appear to have received that message loud and clear – and now, they’ve shared it with the tens of thousands of Gazan children who watch Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV.

A member of the Hamas security forces gives instructions to Palestinian students during a military-style exercise in the courtyard of a high school in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip March 6, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)

The development seems insignificant – until you realize that there is one difference between the two programs. The Hamas military school would be open to a select few students on a voluntary basis. Its new program is now part of the mandatory curriculum for every public school in Gaza, and every male student is required to attend. A program for girls is in the works, said Mohammed Syam, general director of educational activities at Gaza’s Ministry of Education.

This means that within a few months, terrorist training will be a requirement for every single child in Gaza – at least for those who attend public schools. 37,000 boys are already eligible for the program. While parents are technically entitled to withdraw their sons from the training sessions, such a move would likely raise doubts about their loyalty to the regime, and is therefore unlikely.

When questioned about the content of the program, Hamas has employed doublespeak to deflect attention from its true purpose. In an interview with the Guardian, Syam claimed that “the aim is to teach students how to make decisions and take responsibility to know their commitments and obligations.” The program did not involve military training, he said, and only one percent of the curriculum is devoted to learning about weapons.

Syam’s statements directly contradicted a press release published on the interior ministry website and issued in his name. The press release notes that the program will focus on “military exercises, particularly on weapons training and skills training in the field of military confrontation”.

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claims no real weapons are used in the program. But in a video shot at the Gamel Abdul Nasser school near Gaza City and uploaded to Youtube, a Gazan boy fires a live artillery shell at a fake IDF watchtower. At the end of the exercise, the students tear and stomp on the Israeli flag. Mohammed Syam declined to comment on the video. 

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Ahmed Ibrahim, a new recruit, said: “This course is not about attacking anyone, it’s only about defending ourselves. We are students, not fighters.”

But fellow students contradicted his claims. Mohammed al-Zaidi, 16, from Gaza City, told Al-Monitor that “it is a great honor for me to participate in the program, during which I will prepare psychologically and physically at the security and military levels to confront the Zionist occupation in any confrontation to come.”

Zaidi said that he received sports and fitness training as part of the program. But he had also been taught by instructors from the al-Qassam Brigades on basic weapon usage, military skills, and social and psychological training for combat. 

The program appears to have another, more insidious goal. Gazan columnist Mustafa Ibrahim told Al-Monitor that it allows officers to meddle in the behavior and problems of students. “Officers intervene in the education of students in a violent and non-educational way. They punish them — instead of teachers, psychologists and social workers [doing it] — and force harsh physical exercises on those who show up late for the morning schedule.”

On the surface, Gaza’s schools may appear to be legitimate government-run institutions. But Hamas is slowly taking away control of the schools from their teachers, parents and students, and putting them in the hands of its military wing. What form of state-sponsored coercion will Hamas choose next?

Credit: Biblical Archaeology Society

The Anthedon Harbor on the Gazan waterfront is the oldest port in Gaza – it was built 3,000 years ago in the Mycenean era. In 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) accepted the site onto its tentative list for World Heritage status – a status given to sites that hold universal value. In their report, UNESCO says that Anthedon qualifies because it “exhibits an important interchange of human values, over important periods of time that relate to the main trade route crossing the Holy Land from Egypt to the Fertile Crescent and linking Africa and the Middle East to Europe.” None of this seemed to make a difference to Hamas.

Hamas separates its political and military wings in order to maintain a facade of legitimacy for the international community. In this case, the site came under the jurisdiction of Hamas’ Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry claimed that it allowed the site to be used to mitigate Gaza’s chronic lack of housing: “due to rising population in the region, the Ministry appreciates the urgent need for using new pieces of land,” they said in an official statement.

Illustrative: Hamas military training

But Deputy Minister of Tourism in Gaza Muhammad Khela was a little more open about the true purpose of his Ministry’s decision: “We can’t stand as an obstacle in the way of Palestinian resistance; we are all a part of a resistance project,” he said.

Khela’s admission exposes more than just the motivations behind the Anthedon case: it shows that Hamas’ terror and governmental activities are inseparable. More than that, terror is always Hamas’ first priority. When the ‘resistance’ against Israel needs to expand one of its training bases, nothing will stand in its way – including an irreplaceable, millennia-old, internationally-recognised heritage site.

Despite having a name that means “butterfly,” Farfour is clearly a Mickey Mouse rip-off. The only difference being that Farfour and his co-host, a young girl named Saraa’, teach children about the importance of the daily prayers and drinking milk, but also instruct them to hate Israel and the US and support “resistance” – a euphemism for terror.

Fox News report about the Hamas children’s character

Here are Farfour’s top quotes from the show:

Farfour refers to Israel as “the oppressive invading Zionist occupation,” which the children must “resist.”

“Oh Jerusalem we are coming. Oh Jerusalem, it is the time of death. Oh Jerusalem, we will never surrender to the enemy, and we will never be humiliated. It is beloved Palestine that taught us what to be. And taught us to be soldiers of the Lord.”

“The people firmly stand, singing this to you. … Its answer is an AK-47. We who do not know fear, we are the predators of the forest,” Farfour squeaks in one episode while miming throwing a grenade and shooting a rifle.

Hamas Mickey Mouse teaches children to kill Jews

After attracting worldwide attention for its radical content, the show was taken off the air “to make room for new programs,” according to station officials, although station manager Mohammed Bilal said he did not know what would be shown instead.

But of course Hamas’ senior officials would not allow for Farfour to be simply taken off the air  - so in the last episode they made him a martyr. At the end of the episode, Saraa’, Farfour’s young co-host, announces:

“Yes, my dear children, we have lost our dearest friend, Farfour. Farfour was martyred while defending his land, the land of his fathers and his forefathers. He was martyred at the hand of the criminals, the murderers [Israel].”

Farfour, Hamas’ Mickey Mouse character, is ‘martyred’ in the final episode of the “Pioneers of Tomorrow” children show on Hamas TV

Check out these three clips, which nicely illustrate Hamas’ ongoing incitement against Israel:

Religious leader Wael Al-Zarad asks God to support global Jihad fighters in their attempts to “liberate Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, Safed and Lod, Ramle, Jericho and all of our cities” from “this group of cancerous bacteria” [Israel].

In a Friday sermon from Gaza broadcast on March 1, the preacher calls on his congregation to “admit and proclaim to the entire world that what we truly seek is to remove the so-called “State of Israel” from existence”.

The anchor of an Al-Aqsa TV news show reports that Hamas has called for a terror attack on Jerusalem.

Hamas proves once again that its claims to legitimacy and moderation are false. Hamas’ true goal is to destroy the State of Israel.

After nearly 70 years since the liberation of the concentrations camps, there are still peoples and even entire communities that deny the Holocaust ever happened.

“The so-called Holocaust, [...] is an alleged and invented story with no basis. . . . The invention of these grand illusions of an alleged crime that never occurred, [...] clearly reveals the racist Zionist face, which believes in the superiority of the Jewish race over the rest of the nations.”

This statement, given by Hamas in response to the Stockholm Conference on the Jewish Holocaust held in January 2000, shows clearly how Hamas has moved ideologically closer to governments like the radical Islamic Iranian regime headed by its Holocaust-denying president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian Website Displays Antisemitic Cartoons about the Holocaust - August 2010

Over the years, senior Hamas figures have released numerous statements denying or minimizing the Holocaust:

“It is no longer a secret that the Zionists were behind the Nazis’ murder of many Jews, and agreed to it, with the aim of intimidating them and forcing them to immigrate to Palestine.”

— senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi to pro-Hamas Al-Risala, August 2003.

 

“[The Holocaust is an] alleged tragedy… and exaggerated.”

— Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman - July 2012

In 2005, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s made the statement that Europeans had “created a myth in the name of Holocaust” (December 14, 2005), Khaled Meshaal called his words “courageous.”

In accordance with the statements made by Hamas senior officials, in August 2009, Hamas sent an open letter to UNRWA, stating it refused to allow Palestinian children to learn about the Holocaust – “a lie invented by the Zionists”.

Hamas religious leader Younis al-Astal continued by saying that teaching Palestinian children about the Holocaust is a “war crime” and “marketing a lie and spreading it”.

Hamas continues to fight against any kind of Holocaust studies in the Gaza Strip.

In February 2011, Hamas voiced opposition to UNRWA‘s teaching of the Holocaust in Gaza, claiming that “Holocaust studies in refugee camps is a contemptible plot and serves the Zionist entity with a goal of creating a reality and telling stories in order to justify acts of slaughter against the Palestinian people”.

In October 2012, Hamas stated that it was opposed to teaching the Holocaust in Gaza Strip schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency. At the time, the Refugee Affairs Department of Hamas said that teaching the Holocaust was a “crime against the issue of the refugees that is aimed at canceling their right of return”.

Hamas TV Host Criticizes UNRWA for Teaching the Holocaust to Palestinian Children - October, 2012

Read more about Hamas’ Holocaust denial.

 The new measures handed down by the Hamas government’s Ministry of Education include a prohibition against men teaching girls, and mandate that gender segregation be enforced for students from the age of nine.

 Despite the reality on the ground, glancing at official Hamas policy can give the false impression that women in Gaza enjoy a large degree of freedom. According to the Hamas charter:

“Women’s rights will be secured so that they can contribute to the building of society, socially, economically and politically. Women’s organizations should be encouraged.” 

Unfortunately, the opposite is true. After Hamas made this promise, they began to impose numerous restrictions on the women of Gaza. For example, women are banned from dancing or smoking in public, riding behind a man on a motor scooter and even from getting salon treatment from male hairdressers.

The new law, issued on Monday, is expected to apply on the next day of school for all schools in Gaza. Christian and private schools, usually co-ed until high school, will be most affected by the decision.

“We are a Muslim people. We do not need to make people Muslims, and we are doing what serves our people and their culture,” said Waleed Mezher, legal advisor to the Hamas Ministry of Education.

 Zeinab Al-Ghoneimi, a women’s rights activist in the Gaza Strip, said that the new law represents part of a Hamas project to impose its Islamist values on the people of Gaza.

“To say that the old law did not respect the traditions of our community and just wanted Hamas to reform it, is an insult to the people of Gaza,” she said. ”Instead of hiding behind traditions, why do they not clearly say that they are Islamists and they want to Islamize the community?”

Human rights activists have objected to Hamas initiatives from recent years to impose Islamic dress on female lawyers and school students, as well as the prohibition against couples walking hand in hand in the streets of Gaza.

(Source: Haaretz)

The announcement made news around the world. But Hamas’ prohibition is not surprising at all, if you consider the many other prohibitions Hamas authorities have imposed on the women of Gaza since they came to power.

Gaza Marathon 2012 (Photo: UNRWA)

If you read Hamas’ platform, you would be led to believe that women under Hamas authority in Gaza enjoy all of their rights and are treated with respect:

“Women’s rights will be guaranteed so that they can contribute to the building of society: socially, economically and politically. Women’s organizations should be encouraged.” (Source)

Unfortunately, the opposite is true. After Hamas made this promise, they began to impose numerous restrictions on the women of Gaza. For example, women are banned from dancing or smoking in public, riding behind a man on a motor scooter and even from getting salon treatment from male hairdressers.

The emancipation of women in Gaza is an empty slogan. Even the rising violence against women in Gaza is not a major concern for the Hamas authorities.

These disturbing restrictions on women’s freedoms are being enforced by Hamas members, although not all of them are imposed by law. For example, there is no legal provision that states that all students need to wear headscarves for school, but girls who don’t wear them are harassed. On the beach, which is Gaza’s main entertainment area, there is a strict separation between men and women. (Source)

Two articles in the Hamas official covenant explain the role of the woman in the fight to free Palestine:

“The Muslim woman has a role no less important than that of the Muslim man in the battle of liberation. She is the maker of men.” (Article Seventeen)

The convention proceeds to break down the role of the ideal woman, as Hamas see it:

“a woman in the home of the fighting family, whether she is a mother or a sister, plays the most important role in looking after the family… she has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the fighting role awaiting them.“ (Article Eighteen)

From reading these quotes, you can see that the ideal women according to Hamas is a woman who never leave her house. Her only job is to take care of her children and inculcate them with Hamas values.

And if you are still wondering what exactly those Hamas values are, take a look at this video, where Umm Osama, wife of senior Hamas figure Khalil Al-Hayya, tells viewers that “a woman’s role is to instill love of Jihad and martyrdom in her children”.

Showing off his performance during the ceremony

During the ceremony, Ismail Haniyeh admitted that the program is sponsored by the military wing of Hamas (Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades). He called for its continuation and transformation into a “jihadist and educational program” that will become a permanent part of the official agenda and strategy of the Ministry of Education.

Teens practice shooting at “Al-Fatoha” training

Haniyeh called for the establishment of a military school and military college for Gazan students. Only four days later, Hamas’ Minister of Education Osama Mazini said that his ministry’s intention is to establish the first military school in the Gaza Strip in early September, in line with that directive.

Ismail Haniyeh arrives at “Al-Fatoha” graduation ceremony

The school will be named after Ahmed al-Jabari, and is intended to perpetuate his memory. The registration process will start this June and the school will focus on military studies. Mazini added that the Ministry will establish a military college once the military academy’s first class has graduated.

Teens showing off their shooting skills during the ceremony

Hamas’ Ministry of Education continues to encourage the program. As part of its efforts, Osama Mazini, Hamas education minister, visited at an “Al-Fatoha” activity in Khan Younis and emphasized its importance in the struggle against Israel.

During practice of “Al-Fatoha”

During the visit, Mazini repeatedly emphasized that “the goal of the program is to train a generation that will be able to defend his homeland and expel the enemy from the occupied territories”.

“Al-Fatoha” teens doing paramilitary training

According to a senior source at COGAT, other voices inside Hamas have said that the purpose of the program is to prepare students for armed struggle against Israel while implanting in them the principles of Jihad.

Jumping through a ring of fire