Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Has Hamas lost its Mind? | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Somebody asked me, “Isn’t it odd that the [Muslim] Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas movement is threatening Saudi Arabia, not to mention what it is doing in Egypt? Has Hamas lost its mind?”

I answered that Hamas has not lost its mind at all; all that is happening is that people are seeing the movement’s true face, the danger that it poses in dividing the Arab ranks, its tampering with the Palestinian cause, and the suffering it is causing to the people of Gaza in particular.

Dr. Atef Adwan, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a Hamas law-maker, denied verbally attacking Saudi Arabia. This was more of a legal rather than categorical denial.

At one stage, Adwan accused certain parties of distorting his comments in order to destroy Hamas’s relationship with Saudi Arabia similar to Mahdi Akef, the Supreme Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, who once said, “to hell with Egypt.”

Hamas is making the same mistakes as the Muslim Brotherhood. We have become accustomed to it refuting comments that it made based on the pretext that these statements are “taken out of context.” A game is being played here. We have also become accustomed to the chaos of Hamas statements and leaks from numerous spokespersons and their agents in the Arab media.

The truth is that one man’s attack on Saudi Arabia is not important; rather, the importance lies in the fact that Hamas carried Adwan’s comments on its own website. How could Hamas’s own website distort the words of one its affiliates? Even the Islamic Jihad website carried Adwan’s comments attacking Saudi Arabia.

What most observers do not notice is that when Hamas, and its head organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, attack Riyadh they usually avoid doing so on issues of public policy. The two groups avoid doing this because from time to time, they benefit from the sincere Saudi Arabian positions on essential Arab and Islamic issues.

Rather, they always launch their attacks via affiliates using what they call “Saudi Arabian Wahhabism” or “Bedouin jurisprudence.” These groups believe that they are the true representatives of Islam, and proof of this can be seen in the number of verbal attacks on Saudi Arabia after it called for interfaith dialogue. These groups are sick of calls for interfaith dialogue, yet at the same time, they demand dialogue that serves the Waliyat al Faqih in Tehran. And why not especially after they turned against Sheikh Qaradawi because he criticized Tehran, which also agrees on attacking Riyadh according to the “Saudi Wahhabi” strategy?

These are the facts that are overlooked by many observers who are deceived by Hamas’s slogans, not because of the credibility of the movement, or its interest in the Palestinian cause, but because these observers seek justice for the Palestinian cause, which is embedded in the Arab conscience.

There are numerous examples of Hamas mistreating Palestinians and exploiting religion all for the sake of protecting the movement and its figures. This has intensified since Khaled Meshal took over the Hamas leadership, which, today, is preventing Gazan pilgrims from performing the Hajj pilgrimage.

Last Monday, the Hamas leadership attacked worshippers for politicizing the mosques even though most of Ismail Haniyeh’s speeches are delivered in mosques! Moreover, in the past, Hamas disputed the starting date of the fasting month of Ramadan so as to contradict the government of Mahmoud Abbas.

The series of errors committed by Hamas against the Palestinian people is endless. Therefore, the movement’s comments and crude language used to attack Saudi Arabia is not an indication that Hamas has lost its mind; rather, it is an indication that some people are finally waking up to see the true face of this movement.