Moussa Abu Marzouk has served as Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau since 1997. Hamas is the Palestinian offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by much of the non-Arab world including Israel, US, Canada, Japan, UK, Australia and the European Union. Hamas has been responsible for hundreds of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel murdering hundreds of Israelis and injuring thousands. See here and here. Moussa Abu Marzouk himself was listed as a Specially Designated Terrorist by the US Treasury Dept in 1995 and is listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

The Hamas Charter espouses, among other things, the following:

Palestine as an Islamic state

“Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?” [Hamas Charter, Article 11]

“As for the objectives: They are the fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail, homelands be retrieved and from its mosques would the voice of the mu’azen emerge declaring the establishment of the state of Islam, so that people and things would return each to their right places and Allah is our helper.” [Hamas Charter, Article 9]

Rejection of any peaceful solution

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. “Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know.”

…

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.” [Hamas Charter, Article 13]

Virulent Antisemitism

“Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps.” [Hamas Charter, Preamble]

“…the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).” [Hamas Charter, Article 7]

“When did the infidels do justice to the believers? “But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah.” (The Cow – verse 120).” [Hamas Charter, Article 13]

“The Islamic spirit is what should prevail in every Moslem society. The society that confronts a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people – such a society is entitled to this Islamic spirit. Our enemy relies on the methods of collective punishment. He has deprived people of their homeland and properties, pursued them in their places of exile and gathering, breaking bones, shooting at women, children and old people, with or without a reason. The enemy has opened detention camps where thousands and thousands of people are thrown and kept under sub-human conditions. Added to this, are the demolition of houses, rendering children orphans, meting cruel sentences against thousands of young people, and causing them to spend the best years of their lives in the dungeons of prisons.

In their Nazi treatment, the Jews made no exception for women or children. Their policy of striking fear in the heart is meant for all. They attack people where their breadwinning is concerned, extorting their money and threatening their honour. They deal with people as if they were the worst war criminals. Deportation from the homeland is a kind of murder.” [Hamas Charter, Article 20]

“With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it. “So often as they shall kindle a fire for war, Allah shall extinguish it; and they shall set their minds to act corruptly in the earth, but Allah loveth not the corrupt doers.” (The Table – verse 64).” [Hamas Charter, Article 22]

“The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion.

…

We should not forget to remind every Moslem that when the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that “Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.”

Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”” [Hamas Charter, Article 28]

Below is a selection of statements made by Moussa Abu Marzouk “in his own words”:

Ikhwanweb: “There are statements attributed to Mr. Khaled Mesha’al indicating that Hamas will recognize Israel if it withdraws to the 1967 borders. Your comments?”

Abu Marzouk: “One of Hamas’s founding principals is that it does not recognize Israel. We [participated in] the elections and the people voted for us based on this platform. Therefore, the question of recognizing Israel is definitely not on the table unless it withdraws from ALL the Palestinian lands, not only to the 1967 borders. How can we be expected to recognize an occupying entity when millions of our people are refugees, and thousands of others are prisoners!? Why must we recognize them when they do not recognize us as a sovereign state with full independence?” Excerpt of interview posted April 24, 2006 on the Muslim Brotherhood’s English website (www.ikhwanweb.com) [Memri indicated that the interview was lightly edited for style]

IOL: There are some questions concerning Hamas’ stance on “martyr operations,” referring to a notable drop in the number of “suicide bombings” that Hamas used to claim responsibility for. Does this reflect a change in Hamas’ policy towards these operations, and do you still view such operations as in the interest of resistance?
(Questioner: Khaled)

Abu Marzook: …Hamas was and still is a resistance movement and it will remain to be so. Its primary program is resisting the occupation; this is the backbone of its program. And we firmly believe that nothing would enable us to accomplish any achievements on the Palestinian arena better than the program of resistance.

We have two tracks in the political sphere: a settlement track and a resistance track.

Hamas sticks to the resistance track. The settlement track achieved successes in the early 90s. These successes faced barriers. Oslo accords had to be implemented in 1996, but negotiations extended to 2000. Even with that, they failed, and were not able to achieve their goals.

IOL: We received a question from an Israeli reader who has Soviet origins. As an Israeli, he wants to form his opinion about Hamas through the interview with you, Dr. Mousa, not through the media. Assuming that the Zionist state was destroyed and Palestinians returned from their diaspora, what kind of state would Hamas establish? Would you force him and his family to leave, force him together with the other Jews to live under Shari’ah rule, or accept the “democratic one-solution”? Israel, for instance, is considered a liberal, democratic state — at least when it comes to Jews. So, would this change under Hamas’ rule?
(Questioner: Dan Nemrodov, Israel)

Abu Marzook: The logical question that should precede this one is why did Jews come to live in the houses of other people, to cultivate the land of other people, to collect the harvest that they did not cultivate, and live in houses that they did not build? What mistake did Palestinians ? who have been living on that land for thousands of years and who buried their ancestors there ? make to be ousted from their land? Why did Jews do that?

Regarding the issue of Jews living among Muslims, the Jews who were living under the Islamic rule were the happiest on earth. Jews were not massacred in the Muslim world like they were massacred in Moscow, Poland, Germany or Spain. People wrongly think that the only holocaust was in Germany; however, the numbers of Jews who were massacred in Poland and Spain are more than the numbers of those who were killed in Germany.

Jews lived freely and ran prosperous businesses in Egypt and Baghdad, and the markets of Baghdad are evidences of what the Jews owned.

Jews did not face any persecution or mistreatment; rather, sometimes they enjoyed more privileges.

Currently the Bahrain representative in the US is a Jew.

Islam is different from other religions. There is no religion that accepts the other like Islam. No one can call himself Muslim without believing in Moses and Jesus.

Thus, Islam understands the other. At the same time, the other denies my existence, my Palestinian identity, and my religion.

Concerning the future, what is on the table now is ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We want to live in peace without any sort of occupation or persecution. We want the Israelis to withdraw from the land they occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem and the settlements. That is what we call for now, and what we resist in order to achieve in the meantime.

IOL: Ahmed from the UK: Would Hamas recognize Israel after it withdraws to the 1967 borders?
(Questioner: Abdulkadir Jam)

Abu Marzook: No, we will not recognize Israel whether it withdraws or not.

We are talking now about a solution [withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders] that spares the current generations the vicious cycle of violence. However, this does not mean giving up our right to the rest of Palestine. There are millions of refugees who are waiting to return back home. Neither Hamas, nor any other group has the right to give up the rights of those people.

IOL: A Palestinian questioner who works in the media asks: Many of Hamas leaders use the words “Israel” and “the Israeli side”. Is this a sort of formal recognition?

IOL: A Palestinian questioner who works in the media asks: Many of Hamas leaders use the words “Israel” and “the Israeli side”. Is this a sort of formal recognition?

Are terms like “Israel” and the “Israeli side”… some kind of verbal recognition of the Zionist entity? Or is it an attempt to appeal to the Western world? Or maybe there’s a difference between Hamas’ recognition of Israel’s real existence and right to exist? Are the concepts of “Zionist entity” and the “Zionist enemy” no longer in Hamas’ dictionary?
(Questioner: A Palestinian who works in the media)

Abu Marzook: Mentioning a term doesn’t necessarily mean you are convinced with it and is not indicative as to whether you believe in it or not.

Concerning legal and real recognition, Israel does exist in the region, and no one can say it doesn’t exist, but the problem is that it doesn’t have the right to, and we don’t recognize Israel’s right in Palestine.

[Israel entertains de facto existence,] but to recognize its right to co-exist within secure and stable borders, is the question. We are not dealing with ghosts, but with a reality, the most indispensable reality in the region: military and scientific power, good governance and transparency. We must first recognize [all of] this and then say that Israel does not have the right to seize other people’s land and expel a whole nation.

IOL: What is the relationship between Hamas and Iran, especially in light of the recently increasing Shiite domination seen by some critics of Iran?
(Questioner: Abu Omar)

Abu Marzook: Without doubt, we would like our relationships with all countries to become similar to our relationship with Iran.

Iran’s political stance is the closest to Hamas’; it’s almost identical to our stance.

IOL: There are many questions raised by readers in the West on the reason why Hamas doesn’t use the media platforms and public relations techniques to deliver the right picture about itself to the international community in order to gain their solidarity and sympathy?
(Questioners: Jil Davis; Akram Raouf;Ahmed Siraj, Malaysia)

…The second main factor is the influence of the mainstream media. Most of the influential media organizations that report and analyze incidents are Western-controlled; the Zionist movement owns the biggest share of these organizations. The two biggest media organizations in the world are owned by Jews. Excerpts from an interview published on IslamOnline on August 25, 2008

“We have continued to insist that the rights of the Palestinian people be respected by the occupying power. Quite simply, in the present situation, it is not Israel that is threatened with annihilation but the Palestinian people.” Hamas is ready to talk The Guardian August 16, 2007

“The sticking point of “recognition” has been used as a litmus test to judge Palestinians. Yet as I have said before, a state may have a right to exist, but not absolutely at the expense of other states, or more important, at the expense of millions of human individuals and their rights to justice. Why should anyone concede Israel’s “right” to exist, when it has never even acknowledged the foundational crimes of murder and ethnic cleansing by means of which Israel took our towns and villages, our farms and orchards, and made us a nation of refugees?” Hamas’ stand LA Times July 10, 2007

Below is a selection of Moussa Abu Marzouk’s statements in ‘Comment is Free’ “in his own words”:

“You would do well to know the history of the places of which you speak. Sderot, which may be known to some as an Israeli town, lies on the ruins of Najd, a Palestinian village ransacked in May 1948 by Zionist terrorist gangs. Villagers were forced from their beds and homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, rendering them refugees for the next 61 years. That is the story of Sderot. It is never a good start to get your tyrant and victims mixed up, but there is still room for a revival of passionate optimism. Only if you decide to fairly address the issue of the 6 million Palestinian refugees and the ending of occupation of Palestinian lands, including Jerusalem, will you be able to start a new relationship with the Muslim world.” A decisive loss for Israel January 22, 2009