In the wake of the elimination of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida, a number of Qatari journalists and religious scholars have offered praise for Hamas and the October 7th massacre, which resulted in the slaughter of 1,200 innocent men, women and children and the abduction of 251 others to Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report published by MEMRI, “Journalists in Qatar, especially employees of the Qatari Al-Jazeera network, as well as members of the Doha-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), which is backed and funded by Qatar and serves as a branch of the Qatari regime that disseminates extremist anti-Western Islamist ideology, continue to openly praise and glorify the Hamas terrorist organization and its leaders, the architects of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel. These figures present Hamas’s leaders as role models and as emblems of courage, sacrifice and glory, a position that corresponds to Qatar’s overall political and media position on Hamas.”
MEMRI continued, “Recently, after Israel reported killing Hamas military spokesperson Abu Obeida, and following the release of a Hamas video that glorifies the October 7 attack and includes new footage of senior Hamas operatives who were killed, journalists and clerics affiliated with Qatar published numerous X posts praising Hamas and its leaders who have been slain, including spokesperson Abu Obeida, the head of Hamas’s political bureau Isma’il Haniya, the movement’s leader and architect of the October 7 attack Yahya Sinwar, the commander of Hamas’s military wing Mohammed Deif and his deputy Marwan Issa.”
According to MEMRI, “The writers described these Hamas officials as “luminaries that lit the heavens of honor,” “determined the course of history” and shook the ground under Israel’s feet, and as role models for the young generation of the Islamic nation. They declared that the killing of these senior figures would not eliminate the Palestinian resistance, which would continue “until achieving either victory or martyrdom.””
Al Jazeera Mubasher presenter Mostafa Ashoor shared a picture of Hamas military spokesperson Abu Obeida and wrote: “O Islamic nation, Abu Obeida is just one of Allah’s men and servants who were chosen to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Allah knows that [Abu Obeida] and his brothers yearn for one of the two best things: either victory or martyrdom. Raise your heads and educate your sons [to value] what [Hamas’s leaders] lived for, [including] Yahya Ayyash, Abu Obeida, [Isma’il] Haniya, [Muhammad] Deif, [Yahya] Sinwar, [Hamas founder] Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and all the [other] martyrs [who died for] da’wa [Islamic preaching], the nation and Palestine.”
Yasser Abu Hilalah, a former managing director of Al-Jazeera Arabic, likewise shared a picture of Abu Obeida and commented: “Abu Obeida and the procession of light [i.e., the other slain Hamas leaders] – who set out with the [Al-Aqsa] Flood [Hamas’s name for the October 7 attack] and never stopped – [now] occupy a place of honor next to Allah and have achieved a status that none in the illustrious history of our Islamic nation have achieved. Gaza is a bright spot in the darkness of this world. [It has] a generation of angels who, for the past two years, have been singlehandedly waging the battle of the [Islamic] nation against the devils here on earth.”
Al-Jazeera commentator Saeed Ziad shared a screengrab from a Hamas video showing the slain head of the movement’s political bureau, Isma’il Haniya, with slain military leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, and wrote: “We are the sons of the [Al-Aqsa] Flood. We are the sons of the glory that these men created.”
A member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Board of Trustees, Muhammad Al-Sagheer, shared a picture of senior Hamas officials and wrote: “[Here are] the luminaries of Gaza, who lit the heavens of honor. [These are] the last pictures showing commander Mohammed Deif alongside Hamas leader Abu Al-Abd, [aka] Isma’il Haniya, and the knight of the [Al-Aqsa] Flood, Yahya Sinwar. O Allah, let us join them and the rest of the righteous in the World to Come. #Gaza_resists_and_will_win_if_Allah_wills_it.”
IUMS Chair Ali Al-Qaradaghi shared a picture of Abu Obeida and remarked: “The occupier is deluded if it believes that an idea [can be] suppressed by silencing its proponents. It doesn’t realize that [spilled] blood leaves tongues behind it and that martyrdom ignites hearts that do not cease to burn. An idea cannot be eliminated but is passed on as a legacy… Abu Obeida has been crowned with the honor of martyrdom, if Allah willed it. Hundreds and thousands of men of this [Islamic] nation yearn to join the procession [of martyrs]… The convoy of truth does not stop… We, the convoy of [the Prophet] Muhammad, will continue until Judgment Day, [seeking] either a crushing victory or honorable martyrdom. Peace be on Abu Obeida, whether he is alive or is a martyr…”
Hafid Derradji, a columnist for the Qatari government daily Al-Raya and a commentator on the Qatari beIN sports channel, shared picture of Al-Obeida and wrote: “Abu Obeida is a martyr who lives in the heart of his nation. May Allah watch over him, whether he walks among us alive or Allah has chosen him [to be part of] the assembly of martyrs… Abu Obeida is only one man in a people that has been fighting for decades and has sacrificed convoys of martyrs. He walked the path of resistance, knowing himself to be a potential martyr and even yearning to become one… Israel, which yesterday [August 30] announced that it had struck him, surely knows it isn’t confronting a single man but rather an idea and a complete array of resistance fighters. An idea doesn’t die with the martyrdom of its proponents. Many are the commanders who have died, yet the flag continued to fly in the hands of their successors until the resistance became greater than the people and more steadfast than the [individuals’] names. Those who do not understand the significance of martyrdom cannot understand that Abu Obeida is a living martyr: if he lives, he will [continue to] wage resistance, and if he has been martyred, that is a privilege from Allah, which He confers upon whomever He chooses. Thus, [the martyr] remains present as a symbol among his people – alive in the hearts even if he is not physically present. This is the one unparallelled path, as Abu Obeida said: ‘Jihad is either victory or martyrdom.'”
Photo from Fars Media Corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Obaida#/media/File:25th_anniversary_of_Hamas_(16)_-2012_(cropped).jpg
