Hamas: ‘Our Side of the Story’

March 11, 2024

by: Kate Norman, BFP Staff Writer

 

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. That is Hamas’s name for the October 7 massacre, the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. On what is now being called Black Shabbat, thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping some 240 more. Most of the victims were children, women, babies and the elderly. But Hamas’s media department disputes this account and released a document in January entitled “Our Narrative,” supposedly explaining their side of the October 7 story.

“First: Why Operation Al-Aqsa Flood?”

The diatribe opens with Hamas explaining its version of history that led to the bloody events. It is a summarization of the typical Palestinian revision of history, erasing the ties of the Jewish people to their ancient, biblical homeland.

The Hamas version paints a sad picture of Palestinian people as the original inhabitants of the land who were driven out by the evil Zionist regime in 1948. It glosses over the fact that the land was under control of the British since 1917, the Ottomans before that, the Mamluks before that, who came after the Arabs, the Crusaders and the Romans, spanning back into a history of thousands of years of occupation.

The narrative then paints a picture of violence against the Palestinians at the hands of the evil Zionist occupiers who stole their land, once again glossing over the documented history of Israeli leaders offering compromises and peace negotiations, only to run into the brick wall of Palestinian rejectionism.

“Proceeding from the above, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 was a necessary step and a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people and their cause,” Hamas’s narrative argues. “It was a defensive act in the frame of getting rid of the Israeli occupation, reclaiming the Palestinian rights and on the way for liberation and independence like all peoples around the world did,” the narrative continues.

Bear in mind, this “normal” and “necessary” response was the murder, rape, torture and kidnapping of civilians—not just men, but women, children, babies and grandparents. But then, the murder, torture and rape of women and children never happened, according to Hamas.

“The Events of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and Response to the Israeli Allegations”

“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 targeted the Israeli military sites, and sought to arrest the enemy’s soldiers to pressure the Israeli authorities to release the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails through a prisoners exchange deal.”

Hamas terrorists did target Israeli military sites on October 7. But they also targeted kibbutzim, Israeli communities near the Gaza boundary—many without an Israeli soldier in sight. They targeted family homes, a music festival and unsuspecting passersby.

The mention of the “prisoners exchange deal” also glosses over important context. The Palestinian prisoners were in Israeli jails for “serious crimes, such as attempted murder, assault and throwing explosives,” the Israel Prison Service told CNN.

In turn, the Israeli “prisoners” were old women, mothers, young children and a baby boy with fiery red hair whose loved ones celebrated his first birthday in Israel while his fate in Gaza remains unknown. Their crimes? Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women and elderly people is a religious and moral commitment by all the Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters,” Hamas’s narrative continued. “We reiterate that…the Palestinian fighters only targeted the occupation soldiers and those who carried weapons against our people.”

Yet the documented evidence—most of it from footage taken by the Hamas terrorists themselves—tells a different story. It shows that Hamas specifically targeted civilians. They shot children hiding under tables and in saferooms. They murdered old men and women in their homes. They dragged screaming mothers and their children into Gaza.

In fact, they were directed to target civilians, according to Hamas terrorists captured during the October 7 massacre and questioned by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security organization. The Shin Bet released footage of the interrogations, in which one of the Hamas operatives shared that “whoever kidnaps a hostage and brings them back to Gaza gets a stipend…an apartment and [US $10,000].”

Hamas’s narrative continues by placing blame for the death of Israeli civilians on the Israeli security forces themselves, and refuting claims that Hamas used civilian sites in Gaza—particularly hospitals—as its base for operations. However, several photos and video footage have surfaced from Gaza contradicting this lie. The footage shows Hamas operatives transporting the Israeli hostages through hospitals in Gaza. Images show rockets and ammunition under the beds of Hamas commanders’ children, in mosques and other civilian sites, turning Gazans into human shields.

“A Reminder to the World, Who Is Hamas?”

Hamas is apparently a “Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement” whose goal “is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project.” But this wording is somewhat vague.

Hamas’s original charter, released in 1988, highlights the so-called liberation organization’s goal more plainly: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

The Hamas narrative also alleges that “the Palestinian people have always stood against oppression, injustice and committing of massacres against civilians regardless of who committed them.” Yet it is Hamas itself who oppresses and exposes its own people to injustice. Under Hamas’s reign of terror, the people of Gaza have suffered under corruption, mismanagement and dismal standards of living at the hands of the terrorist group.

Hamas then brainwashes its people to blame their problems on Israel and urges and bribes them to turn to terrorism, glorifying terrorists as heroic martyrs and financially rewarding convicted terrorists and their families.

The narrative also blamed Israel for “savagely” striking “schools, universities, mosques, churches and hospitals” in Gaza. Israel does indeed strike these sites—because they are where Hamas bases its operations. What the narrative leaves out, however, is that the Israeli military goes to painstaking means to avoid civilian casualties by announcing incoming strikes and warning all civilians to evacuate the area to safety.

Hamas knows that Israel values human life. Hamas, in turn, values blood and “martyrdom.” The proof is in the innocent blood spilt on October 7. There are very often two sides to every story, yet Hamas’s “side of the story” fails to address the need for raping women, kidnapping mothers and babies, and torturing and brutally murdering civilians—because there is no justification for such savage actions.

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