Rabid anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic incitement on Hamas-owned media

• On June 11, two days after the tragic event on the Gaza beach, an anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic incitement article was published on the Hamas movement�s English-language website (www.palestine-info.co.uk). Both the article�s contents and the fact that it was published on the English-language website are testimony that Hamas was aiming its incitement primarily at British audiences.¹ The author of the article is Khaled Amayreh, a Hamas-associated Palestinian journalist who holds degrees from several US universities (see Appendix for details).

• The Hamas journalist�s incitement article is replete with strong-worded expressions comparing Israel, Zionism, and the Jews to the Nazis. This, for example, is the article�s description of the IDF: �A reptile-Nazi-like army of thugs, hoodlums, and common criminals, not unlike the Gestapo, SS and Wehrmacht.� The Israeli leadership is referred to as �the Juedo-Nazi [sic] leaders of Israel.� The article states that the Zionist movement and the Jewish people have perpetrated more massacres than any other people on Earth since Adam and Eve. It also asserts that Jews and Israelis �are enjoying the killings of Palestinian children.�

• Khaled Amayreh takes advantage of the tragic event on the Gaza beach for rabid incitement against Israel and the Jewish people, completely ignoring the Qassam rocket fire at Israeli population centers and the conclusions of the IDF inquiry which categorically ruled out the possibility that the explosion on the beach was the result of IDF fire.

• What follows are some additional �highlights� from Amayreh�s article:

• Israelis praise the killing of the children on the Gaza beach since they were raised on the Talmud, which, as the writer puts it, is �the unofficial constitution of Israel.�² He says this �murderous cannibalism doesn�t come out of the blue,� for �today in Israel, school curricula are dominated by the Talmud, especially a specific Talmudic text called Shulhan Aruch.�³ The author claims that �in this text, Jews are commanded to slaughter non-Jews who are viewed more or less as animals or at least lesser human beings.�

• The �massacre� (a recurring term in the article) on the Gaza beach is part of the IDF�s systematic policy rather than the act of an individual soldier or officer. The author claims this is the systematic policy of an army that is �concerned more with justifying its crimes than recognizing them and stopping them.�

• In Amayreh�s view, in Europe, unlike in the US, �there are more people who are getting to know the truth about the Nazi nature of Israel and the Nazi-like treatment Palestiniansare being subjected to by the children and grandchildren of the holocaust survivors.� He calls upon the Europeans not to remain silent in the face of Israel�s actions by comparing Israel�s policy to the Holocaust: �Europe can not just atone for one holocaust by allowing Israel and the Jews to commit another holocaust.�

Incitement broadcasts on Hamas�s television station

The homepage of Al-Aqsa, Hamas�s television station (under construction)

• Al-Aqsa Television is a land-based station broadcasting from Gaza City at UHF62 and received across the Gaza Strip. It started its test broadcasts on January 7, 2006.⁴ Nowadays, it broadcasts some 16 hours a day between 08:00 AM to midnight, and it is perceived by Hamas as an alternative to the Abu Mazen-controlled national Palestinian television.

• A significant share of the station�s broadcasts is dedicated to anti-Israeli incitement and the glorification of shahids, terrorist operatives killed during the armed struggle against Israel. The following are examples of the station�s broadcasts in June 2006:

• Incitement songs. Occasionally broadcasted during the station�s on-air hours were incitement songs lasting over an hour. The songs were mostly broadcasted with images of masked Hamas gunmen and of clashes between Palestinians and IDF forces in the background. For example:

�Oh, hawks of Al-Qassam; oh, men of Hamas,

the settler⁵ is not asleep, he will surely run away.

My land will be reclaimed by the rifle alone,

ignite them with fuel and fire and drive the Zionists away.�

(A statement by Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi was broadcasted before the song was played: �Oh, brothers, force is the only language your enemy understands�)

• The glorification of shahids. The station often broadcasts programs about terrorists killed during the violent confrontation with Israel (shahids), praising their activities.

• Prisoners. The issue of prisoners, Hamas�s terrorist operatives detained in Israel, is covered at length. The station occasionally broadcasts programs dealing with the prisoners. Broadcasted on June 2, for example, was a program called �Free Behind Bars�, in which the prisoners� families participated. Furthermore, the station occasionally broadcasts songs of sympathy with the prisoners. One of the songs integrated a statement made by Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Hamas Foreign Minister, promising the prompt liberation of the prisoners.

• The station often covers current news, developments on the internal Palestinian scene, and also broadcasts religious programs. A half-hour main news edition, which serves to distribute Hamas�s messages, is aired everyday at 9:30 PM. A significant share of the news editions is dedicated to coverage of IDF activities. Furthermore, the station�s broadcasts serve as a stage to glorify past and present Hamas leaders. Thus, for example, the station often airs a song titled �Our Leaders�, accompanied by photographs of Ahmed Yassin and Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi and a video clip showing Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zah ar.

Appendix

Khaled Amayreh – biographical details⁶

Khaled Amayreh (source: www.amin.org)

Khaled Amayreh is a Hamas-associated journalist born in 1958, currently residing with his family in the village of Dura (south-west of Hebron ).

He claims that being a teenager, he worked in construction in Beersheba , where he learned to speak Hebrew.

In 1981, he received a bachelor�s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma .

In 1983, he received a master�s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois .

In 1997, he was arrested by the Palestinian Preventive Security in Dura due to an article he published on the Preventive Security, which was perceived as a personal affront to Jibril Rajoub.⁷

He writes print and web articles for leading news agencies, including Palestine Times⁸and Middle East International.⁹