Following Hamas declaring victory, MEMRI reported that a number of journalists, researchers, writers and others across the Arab world slammed Hamas.
By Rachel Avraham
After Hamas and Israel reached a cease-fire agreement, MEMRI reported that Hamas political bureau member Khalil Al-Hayya delivered a speech on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel in which he declared that “the Al-Aqsa Flood war was an important turning point in the history of the Palestinian people.” He added that “the security and military miracle and accomplishment of October 7, carried out by the elite forces of the Al-Qassam [Brigades], will remain a source of pride for our people and our resistance, and will be passed down from generation to generation.” Stating that Israel has failed to achieve its declared goals in the war and to defeat Hamas, he promised that the jihad against it will continue.
Following Hamas declaring victory, MEMRI reported that a number of journalists, researchers, academics and other prominent figures across the Arab world slammed Hamas. Saudi media figure Yahya Al-Shabraqi wrote: “[Hamas official Khalil] Al-Hayya called Hamas’ victories in Gaza ‘miraculous’!!! Oh Al-Hayya,[3] if you see this [spilled] blood and destruction as a ‘victory,’ I’d like to know how you would describe a defeat!!!…”
Saudi journalist Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khames wrote: “Since yesterday, I have been laughing at the extent of the stupidity of the Muslim Brotherhood, [Hamas’ parent organization]. They say Hamas has won. Yes, it won after seeing 200,000 [Gazans] killed and wounded, 80% of Gaza destroyed and the Israeli army occupying Gaza. What a strange world. [All] they care about is that Hamas endured…”
Muhammad Al-Hababi, a Saudi researcher on international relations, proclaimed: “After 466 days of war, destruction and extermination, and after over a million innocent civilians have been displaced, [people] who before the war had electricity, food and water, and whose children went to school and shaped their future, today none of these things are available [in Gaza]. All of Hamas’ leaders and fighters have been killed, yet there are still some who say ‘we won, and thank you, Iran.'”
According to the MEMRI report, Abd Al-Hak Snaibi, a Moroccan security commentator, wrote: “The Al-Jazeera channel, which competes with Satan, is trying to convince the Arabs and Muslims… that the martyrdom of over 70,000 Palestinians, the annihilation of Gaza and the displacement of hundreds of thousands is a great and honorable victory. Oh criminals! The people [of Gaza] are glad that the tragedy and bloodshed may be at an end, and their joy has nothing to do with victory.”
Saudi writer Fahd Deepaji shared a cartoon that depicts Khalil Al-Hayya as a snake. The snake, coiled around the ruins of Gaza, says: “We achieved a total victory in Gaza.” According to MEMRI, in another post, Deepaji shared the text of the ceasefire agreement, and commented “[The agreement aims to] restore Gaza to what it was before October 7, but without the 50,000 Palestinians who have been killed, with desolate land and empty buildings, without a liberation of Palestine and without the victory that the Muslim Brotherhood and its contractor [Hamas] are trying to market…” He also shared a video showing Gazans celebrating the ceasefire, and wrote: “The immense joy [that broke out] the moment the ceasefire in Gaza [was declared] shows that what the peoples want is peace, not slogans… which bring nothing but destruction, extermination and devastation.”
Saudi journalist Hussein Al-Waday wrote: “I am glad that the war in Gaza has stopped and I share the joy of the oppressed people who have been subject to every kind of killing and oppression. But if Hamas thinks it has gained a victory, then it’s a victory over the Palestinians, for it has destroyed their lives and future and defeated their cause, bringing it to the brink of the grave.”
According to MEMRI, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati researcher and professor of Political Science, wrote: “Hamas ratified a surrender agreement just as the Iranian party in Lebanon [i.e., Hizbullah] did before it. Thus collapsed Iran’s myth of the Islamic resistance, which has not liberated one inch of Palestine or advanced a single step toward Jerusalem but [only] brought devastation upon the land and its people wherever it established itself – for resistance is meant to be national or not to exist at all.”
Iraqi politician Faiq Al Sheikh Ali also condemned Hamas’ claim of victory: “… It is a shame and a disgrace, the repeated claims about a Hamas victory in Gaza. Hamas was defeated, and in the worst way. It surrendered and was humiliated. As for Israel, it pulverized Hamas, completely demolished Gaza, killed many of its people, and totally humiliated Iran, removing it from the equation of the conflict. This is defeat by any criterion.”
Kuwaiti writer Muhammad Al-Mulla likewise quoted from Al-Hayya’s speech, and remarked: “Betrayal is their systematic way. [Al-Hayya] thanks the Houthis, Hizbullah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and praises the glorious victory, after 50,000 Palestinians have been martyred and Gaza has been destroyed because of them. And then they ask the Gulf states to rebuild Gaza so that [Hamas officials] can pad their bank accounts. Let me say this in the briefest manner: We will not forget what you have done to the Palestinian people. We are on their side, not yours.”
Hamas also faced criticism from Palestinian journalists when they declared victory. Palestinian journalist Ayman Khaled shared a picture of Gaza in ruins, and wrote: “What brings [me] to tears about the Palestinian arena is the claims of victory [made by Hamas officials], when they have wrought the greatest tragedy in history…”
Khaled shared the remarks made by Khalil Al-Hayya on Al-Jazeera in which he thanked Hamas’ allies in the resistance axis that helped it in the fighting against Israel, and commented: “[This is] the height of betrayal. ‘Congratulations to Iran, Hizbullah, the Houthis, the Iraqi militias and the militias in Jenin who are collaborating with Iran’ – that was the gist of the remarks made by the snake Khalil Al-Hayya in his false victory speech.”
