The Hamas movement has revealed a new aspect of its anti-Semitism. Dr. Yunes al-Astal, a senior Hamas figure and member of the Palestinian parliament, has provided religious justification for the Muslim destruction of the Jewish people and regards the slaughter at the Mercaz Ha'Rav yeshiva as a partial implementation of Allah's commandment to destroy the Jews.

Holocaust in the next world

Al-Astal, who was head of the Sharia Faculty and chairman of the fatwa committee of the Islamic University in the Gaza Strip stated that extermination, burning and Holocaust would be the fate of the Jewish people not only in the next world, but in this as well, and that the destruction would be carried out by jihad fighters.

The ideology of the radical Islamic movements deals with the perception of Muslims as superior to "infidels." Those responsible for brainwashing the Muslim public make extensive use of the Qur'an verse which states that the Muslims are Allah's "chosen people." Their superiority will be manifested by their taking over the world, both as a vision and a plan for action, and by the Muslims' total destruction of the Jews, Christians and other "infidels."

Allah will have no mercy for the Jews

In an article published on March 13, al-Astal based his claims on Qur'an verses 4-7 from Surah 85, The Celestial Stations:

"Cursed be the makers of the pit, Of the fire (kept burning) with fuel, When they sat by it, And they were witnesses of what they did with the believers."

The judgment of death by fire will be the fate of all those who killed believing Muslins, and Allah will have no mercy for them. He will not pity the Jews because of their arrogance and corruption, and because they killed the prophets and shed Muslim blood.

According to al-Astal, their punishment will be carried out in hell in accordance with verses 20-24 from Surah 22, The Pilgrimage:

"With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and (their) skins as well. And for them are whips of iron. Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, from grief, they shall be turned back into it, and taste the chastisement of burning."

He explained that the torments of fire were intended for "the people of the Book" (i.e., Jews and Christians) who denied the word of Allah and were polytheists.

The Muslims are commanded to burn all Jews

Al-Astal added that the greater question was whether in order to raise the spirits of the faithful, the Jews would suffer burning in this world as well as the torments promised them in hell in the next. He said that the answer could be found in verse 10 of The Celestial Stations:

Surely (as for) those who persecute the believing men and the believing women, then do not repent, they shall have the chastisement of hell, and they shall have the chastisement of burning.

According to al-Astal, some of the Muslim sages are of the opinion that the torments of burning will be suffered in this world as well as the next, that is, Muslims are commanded to burn Jews alive until the total extinction of the Jewish people. He agreed, saying that "we are therefore certain that burning and the Holocaust (using the Arabic term muhrakah, which is how the Arabs refer to the Holocaust of the Jews during the Second World War) will be the fate of the Jews, and one of the signs was the "dedicated act for the sake of Allah carried out at the military school" (the Mercaz Ha'Rav yeshiva).

Not the only one

Al-Astal is not the only Hamas figure to hold those opinions. No one from the Hamas leadership either condemned or contradicted him, indicating a serious negative development in the organization's attitude. In effect, they provided a response to all the politicians, newspaper correspondents and commentators who claim they see Hamas's ideological platform becoming more "flexible."

As a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza City, founder and chairman of the Al-Huda network of Islamic schools in the Gaza Strip and a senior functionary in the Al-Rahma "charitable society" in Khan Yunis, Al-Astal inculcated generations of Palestinian students with his views.