RSS
Hamas Threats to ‘Cut Off Heads,’ ‘Slit Throats,’ and ‘Slaughter Every Jew on the Planet’ Were Ignored in 2019
Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on October 7 shocked everyone in Israel and abroad. So did the brutality of the attack, the cruelty of the murders, and the inhumanity of the torture.
But there were warnings, and the slaughter of at least 1,200 Israelis, the wounding of more than 4,800, and the kidnapping of at least 238 hostages should not have come as a surprise.
One of those warnings occurred in 2019, when Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad explained in detail Hamas’ intentions, goals, and aspirations: To murder “every Jew on the planet”:
Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad: “We are sharpening the knives … We were created here in Gaza to shatter and get rid of this [Zionist] entity … If we die it will be when we are killing you [Jews], and we will cut off your heads, Allah willing … There are seven million Palestinians abroad … You have Jews everywhere. We must attack every Jew on the planet — slaughter and kill … And you, the people of the West Bank … We want the knives to come out. Five shekels [for a knife] — isn’t the throat of a Jew worth five shekels to us? … I will die as I blow up and cut — what? The throats of the Jews and their legs. We will tear them to shreds, Allah willing.”
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 12, 2019]
Through the prism of Hamas’ massacre and attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the statement by Hammad in 2019 now looks like a chilling forecast.
Hammad’s words also stress that Hamas’ goal — as the terror organization states in its charter — is to destroy Israel and kill all Jews, not only in Israel, but in the entire world.
But Hamas is not alone in this goal. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed numerous statements by Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah officials that prove they share the goal of Israel’s destruction.
The PA has likewise been making genocidal threats for years and justified killing of Israelis and Jews. For example, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Islam, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who Abbas appointed to be the Supreme Shari’ah Judge, explained to Palestinian viewers of official PA TV that Islam explicitly calls to “kill” people who “attack my home … my land … my homeland … my property … my honor” — all crimes the PA accuses Israel of committing:
Similar calls and teachings have been disseminated by PA officials saying that Jews are Satan in human form, humanoids, apes and pigs, evil, human waste, and that Palestinians therefore are justified in killing them and that Islam even wants it.
During the current war, the next generation of PA leaders — members of Fatah’s Student Movement — have been calling on Allah to murder Jews, while the PA has instructed preachers in mosques to teach that killing of Jews is an Islamic imperative.
Hamas’ threats were ignored until it was too late. It is time Israel and the world took the PA’s genocide threats at face value.
The authors are the founder and senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post Hamas Threats to ‘Cut Off Heads,’ ‘Slit Throats,’ and ‘Slaughter Every Jew on the Planet’ Were Ignored in 2019 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.