1. A prominent element of Hamas’ Internet network is the Palestine-info portal, which appears in eight languages (Arabic, English, French, Russian, Farsi, Urdu, Malaysian and lately also Turkish). It posts factual "information” interwoven with propaganda about Hamas’ terrorist attacks, the conflict with Israel and the internal Palestinian arena. The propaganda appearing on the sites accessible through the portal, which post verbal and visual information, encourage terrorism and preach hatred of Israel and the Jewish people, the United States and the West. 1 The information disseminated in the various languages is based on a unified propaganda strategy, suited in each case to a specific target audience .
2. The Russian version of Palestine-info, supported by Russian Internet companies, 2 carries a large number of anti-Semitic (and anti-Western) cartoons which do not appear on the portal’s other language sites. In our assessment that is because Hamas’ propaganda policy is based on the assumption that the Russian-speaking target audiences (in Russia and the independent republics in Central Asia ) are ripe for anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda. It also stems from the expectation that such cartoons can promote the absorption and assimilation of other Hamas’ messages of radical Islam, support for terrorism, hostility toward the United States .
3. The cartoons on the Palestine-info have not been specifically drawn for the site. They have been taken from an anti-Semitic, anti-American Iranian site (Irancartoon.ir). It displays the work of cartoonists from all over the world, including Russia . The cartoons in the Hamas site put great emphasis on the themes of comparing Jews and Nazis, representing the Jews as bloodthirsty, Holocaust denial or minimization, and the claim that the Jews use the Holocaust to justify their own holocaust of the Palestinians (See the Appendix for examples).
4. It should be noted the Khaled Mashaal , Hamas political bureau chairman in Damascus , has recently used the themes of Holocaust minimization and of the fabricated comparison of the Holocaust of the Jews to Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. At the Imam al-Kardawi Conference recently held in Doha , the capital of Qatar , he said the following:
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"…On this occasion, and based on the remarks made by my honorable colleague from Germany [a German woman was present at the conference], I would like to say something. I want it to be clear to the West and to the German people, who are still being blackmailed on the pretext of what the Nazis did to the Zionists or the Jews. What the State of Israel has done to the Palestinian people, honorable colleague, is ten times worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews. The time has come to put the inflated stories of the Holocaust to rest . We do not deny the facts but we will not agree to be extorted on the basis of exaggeration. The Zionist holocaust of the Palestinian people and the peoples of the Arab-Muslim nation is being carried out in full view , the global media cover it, and no one can deny it or claim that it has been exaggerated…” (Al-Jazeera TV, July 16, 2007) |
Appendix
Cartoons which have appeared in the Russian version of Palestine-info (as of July 18, 2007). They were taken from the Iranian site, IranCartoon.ir.
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Comparing Jews and Nazis |
The Holocaust Museum |
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Comparing the Holocaust to Israeli policy toward the Palestinians |
Israel, with UN support, carries out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
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Israel carries out a "holocaust” of the Palestinians while the world deplores the acts of the Nazis. |
Comparing Israel’s security fence to Auschwitz |
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Israel ‘s "holocaust” of the Palestinians is worse than the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews |
Israel and the Jews carry out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
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Israel and the Jews carry out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
Israel and the Jews carry out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
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Israel uses the Holocaust to justify killing |
Without the memory of the Holocaust Israel would fall into the abyss |
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 Israel and the Jews carry out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
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Israel carries out a Palestinian "holocaust” |
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The Palestinians are victims of both the Nazis and the Jews |
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