Hamas Official: ‘We Must Attack Every Jew on the Planet’

TEL AVIV – A senior Hamas official in Gaza has called on Palestinians in the diaspora to “slaughter Jews” around the world.

During a speech at Friday’s so-called March of the Return protests, Fathi Hamad warned that if the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt for security reasons, is not lifted by July 19, “every Jew on the planet” should be killed.

“Our patience has run out. We are on the verge of exploding. If this siege is not undone, we will explode in the face of our enemies, with God’s permission and glory. The explosion is not only going to be in Gaza but also in the [West] Bank and abroad, if God wills,” Hamad said in the speech, which was broadcast on the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV.

“But our brothers [in the diaspora] are still preparing. They are trying to prepare. They are warming up. A long time has passed with them warming up. All of you seven million Palestinians abroad, enough of the warming up. You have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the planet by way of slaughter and killing, if God permits. Enough of the warming up,” he added.

Hammad also warned that despite what Israel might think, Gazans are not rational, and that if they die they will do so honorably while “cutting off the heads of Jews and killing them with explosive belts,” which he said Hamas has been actively manufacturing in factories, according to a translation of his speech by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Hammad, according to MEMRI, also urged Palestinians in the West Bank to purchase knives in order to “cut the necks of Jews,” saying that knives only cost five shekels.

“O, the people of the West Bank, until when will you be quiet?” he said. “We want knives to come out. Five shekels. How much does the neck of a Jew cost? Five shekels or less?”

“We will die while exploding and cutting the necks and legs of the Jews. We will lacerate them and tear them to pieces, Allah willing!” Hammad said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic-language spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, tweeted Sunday that Israel would “use [Hamad’s comments] to garner support for us and reveal Hamas’s true face. Thanks Fathi!”

Hammad, who is a member of Hamas’s politburo, is known for his fiery rhetoric, calling Jews “cancer” and warning, “We are coming to chop your heads off your necks!”

In July 2018, he called on Muslims to kill Jews. “O Muslims, wherever you find a Zionist Jew, you must kill him because that is an expression of your solidarity with the al-Aqsa Mosque and an expression of your solidarity with … your Jerusalem, your Palestine and … your people,” he said.