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Hamas Says It Wants Oct. 7 Massacre Again and Again; Why Won’t the Media Believe Them?
The body of a motorist lies on a road following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Not long after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel to rape and massacre scores of civilians — then dragging hundreds of hostages back to the Gaza Strip — senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad spoke with Lebanese news outlet LBCI.
During the interview, Hamad said: “Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” explaining that it was the job of Hamas to “remove that country.”
Questioned about the October 7 atrocities, Hamad responded:
We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again.
The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight … Nobody should blame us. On October 7, October 10, October one million — everything we do is justified.
There can be no doubt about Hamas and its goals: the terrorist group wants to destroy Israel and every single one of its citizens.
Hamas’ leaders have not hidden the fact that they believe the October 7 massacre was justified, and that they will try to replicate the horror over and over again.
Likewise, before October 7, Hamas never masked its genocidal aims, having been founded on a charter that swears Islam will “obliterate” Israel.
Why, then, do media outlets keep presenting Hamas as a viable partner for peace, while implicitly suggesting that the terrorist group’s extremism is, at least in part, a response to the hawkish right-wing Israeli government that was formed in 2022?
In a recent op-ed in The Guardian, Peter Hain, a former UK Middle East minister, argues that while Israel is damaging Hamas militarily, it cannot hope to totally destroy it because “Hamas is a movement and an ideology that, in many respects, Netanyahu’s extremism helped to promote.”
He adds: “Rightwing Israeli governments have thwarted serious negotiations with Palestine’s more ‘moderate’ party, the late Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, since the Camp David summit in 2000 – more than 20 years ago. They have also consistently oppressed Gaza residents, imposing a near-constant state of siege. Is it really surprising that many Palestinians turned in desperation to an extremist alternative in Hamas?”
Several points must be made in response.
1. The claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “extremism” helped promote Hamas is not just inaccurate, but grossly offensive.
Whatever one’s view on Netanyahu, he is in no way responsible for furthering Hamas’ warped ideology. Not only does Hamas long predate Netanyahu, but — as is clear from Ghazi Hamad’s comments — it has vowed to carry on attacking Israel regardless of who is in the government.
2. Hain is palpably wrong to suggest that Palestinians in Gaza “turned in desperation to an extremist alternative in Hamas” following the failure at Camp David, and what he described as a “near-constant state of siege.”
The blockade on the Gaza Strip, which Egypt also maintains, began in 2007 and came after Palestinians voted for Hamas and after it fought an internecine war against rivals Fatah, who were expelled from the territory.
3. It is a lie that successive right-wing Israeli governments have “thwarted serious negotiations” since Camp David. There have been numerous attempts by Israel to restart peace talks since 2000, and Netanyahu himself acknowledged in 2011 that Israel would have to give up land to create “genuine peace.”
Hain goes on to state that finding a peaceful solution will have to include Hamas at the negotiating table, arguing that discussions that only involve the discredited Palestinian Authority will be doomed to failure.
And here is the problem — Hain, like many other commentators, is wrong to believe that Hamas could ever be a peace-loving neighbor of Israel.
Hamas has sworn that it will not stop attacking until Israel and all Jews are dead.
Why do people like Peter Hain believe Hamas will suddenly abandon its genocidal pursuit if a less right-wing Israeli government is in power?
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Hamas Says It Wants Oct. 7 Massacre Again and Again; Why Won’t the Media Believe Them? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.