3 times slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh proved he wasn't a 'moderate'

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Monday, August 05, 2024

A footbridge leads from the Western Wall to the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City June 2, 2015. Picture taken June 2, 2015. | REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Leading a crowd in calling for the massacre of Jews

Heidi Bachram, the wife of Adam Ma'anit, a British-Israeli whose cousin was murdered during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, shared a video in a Wednesday X post of Haniyeh leading a crowd in chanting "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh, Jews!"

The U.S.-based watchdog Middle East Media Research Institute TV translated the clip.

In the video, Haniyeh is translated as saying Hamas will never recognize Israel and their "ideology" is not "up for compromise." As he spoke, the crowd chanted "death to Israel," which prompted Haniyeh to say, "that is our land" and "we will return to it, whether people like it or not."

"Many say Hamas changed their charter to recognise Israel," Bachram wrote. "It was a sham. Haniyeh wanted blood.”

According to the Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League, "Khaybar" is an Arabian oasis located in present-day Saudi Arabia that is significant to Islamic history. The chant "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh, Jews" is a chant frequently heard at anti-Israel demonstrations, according to the ADL. It is a reference to a series of seventh-century battles between Jews and Muslims.

"As retold in the Quran and other textual sources, Mohammed's forces took action against Khaybar in response to purported acts of Jewish treachery," the ADL stated. "Ultimately, these battles resulted in the subjugation, mass expulsion, or slaughter of the area's tribal Jewish communities."

"Invoking this slogan today at such a demonstration problematically shifts the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious battle between Islam and Judaism," the report continued. "Moreover, in celebrating a past military defeat of Jews, this chant can be perceived as a threat of armed violence or forcible expulsion against Jews today."

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman