Writers Opposing Hamas: Targets of Death

hamasOn August 19th, 2014, I was invited to participate in the famous talk show “The Opposite Direction” which airs on Al-Jazeera channel, in an episode entitled “Who is the winner in the current Gaza war?” The opposite side of the debate was represented by Hamas leader Ibrahim Hamami. In the course of discussions which lasted an hour, I plainly explained my point of view, clarifying that the current conflict does not constitute an ordinary war, but rather an attack initiated by a designated terrorist movement – classified as such even in some Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirate – against a member State of the United Nations. I pointed out that Hamas did not abide by ethical or legal rules in that conflict, taking advantage of schools, hospitals, mosques, bedrooms and even churches to launch missiles at Israel. Fully anticipating that Israel would respond by bombarding those launching points, Hamas managed to show the World an Israel which is killing children and targeting schools, mosques and hospitals. The MEMRI Foundation has translated a short clip of my speech, which can be accessed at this link.

When the Hamas member failed to counter this argument in a rational manner, he started hurling accusations and insults, calling me an Arab Zionist, and mockingly suggesting that I should change my name to Magdi Cohen, or Magdi Avichay. This verbal assault went on for the duration of the show, but the surprise came at the end of the episode, when he explicitly called for my death, stating that getting rid of Arab Zionists is a primary duty that should precede the elimination of the Zionist occupiers. This was a message broadcasted on a channel watched by tens of millions in the region–a channel which is also considered the preferred channel for terrorist Muslims worldwide. This explicit threat can be viewed at the end of the above mentioned clip.

After the episode aired, I received more than 500 insulting messages from Palestinians and Arabs, including five messages with explicit death threats, stating that a plan to kill me was already in place.

The only language Hamas knows to speak is one of terror and murder. When unable to refute arguments, they resort to bullets. The rabid attempts to intimidate me are an attack against the right to opinion and expression.

Surprisingly, Abraham Hamami – who issued this death threat while we were live on the air on a widely viewed channel, making sure that this call would reach Islamist terrorists across the world – is a London resident and a British citizen. From London also came the terrorist who killed American journalist James Foley a few weeks ago. So, will the British Security Service simply wait till the next crime is committed at the hands of this Hamas terrorist? Why is the U.K. keeping silent about the likes of these terrorists until the silence is forcefully broken by a criminal act? Why the silence when Hamas is in fact classified as a terrorist organization in the European Union?

This article is meant as a message for the UK MI5 Security Service and the American FBI, so that measures may be taken against this threat.

As for me, I will not shy away from stating the truth as I perceive it, and will continue to express my opinions openly. Yet, the free world needs to pay attention to the design of Muslim extremists to suppress freedom of opinion and expression, whether under claim of Islamophobia, showing disrespect to Islam(Blasphemy), or defending Israel. They aim to silence dissenting voices, and they are not above committing murder to achieve that end.

The freedom of opinion and expression is in peril in the Western World itself, as a result of the actions of Muslim extremists. The free world has to defend the liberties that were paid for with the lives of millions in the West, until Freedom eventually became a reality to be enjoyed and appreciated. Conversely, we are now faced with Muslim extremists armed with Sixth Century perceptions, who are intent on threatening the freedom of expression in the twenty-first century.

Magdi Khalil is Executive Director of the Middle East Freedom Forum.

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  • wileyvet

    Although Mr. Khalil’s brief bio does not say it, he is a Coptic Egyptian. One can appreciate his courage in speaking out and living in Egypt, a most risky enterprise considering Egypt’s attitude and conduct towards the Coptic Christian community there. Living there, I am sure this activist is abundantly aware of the tenets of Islam that derogate Christians and Jews, indeed all Kafir. Yet, he like many others, still insist on explaining this as the actions of “extremists” within certain Islamic circles. Surely this man must know that it is Islam itself that denies the rights, freedoms and liberties that he himself champions. Certainly he is aware of the extreme dysfunction that permeates the Arab and Muslim world and why it has been so resistant to reform that might help improve conditions. He must see and hear what the media, schools, and imams in the mosques preach on a daily basis, and why so much violence happens after Friday prayers. Likewise he must also be aware that the highest authorities in Sunni Islam can be found at al-Azhar University in Cairo namely one Yusuf al-Qaradawi, THE voice of Sunni Islam. Surely this eminent Islamic scholar cannot be misunderstanding Islam when he issues his opinions from his exalted perch. I assume that Mr. Khalil also speaks Arabic, so he has no difficulty in translating what is said in Arabic for local consumption and that for a foreign naïve western audience. As a Copt, he must also be familiar with the Islamic history of Egypt, the subjugation of a six centuries old Christian community and heritage, the institution of Dhimmi status and the oppressive burden of the Conditions of Umar. The burning of 30,000 churches in Egypt and Syria by one Caliph alone is well documented as are the centuries of destruction and persecution of Christians. This was early on in the spread of and conquest by Islam. Surely these were not extremists then. No, they were practicing the intolerant, supremacist faith of Islam. Islam has not changed since, and is unable to. I appreciate Mr. Khalil’s insights into the region, his efforts for improving conditions in Egypt and his courage for doing so. Having just made the above points, I believe Mr. Khalil DOES know these things, but Egypt and the Arab world being what it is, one can say or do only so much, without crossing over the line, before you find you have a Fatwa on your head, and ANY Muslim is likely to take up the challenge.

    • StanleyT

      for heaven’s sake, instead of criticizing the man for not going far enough, give him credit for his incredible courage in saying what he has said! Look at the clip and see the reaction from the Hamas spokesman, calling for his death. This is pure courage, and yet you criticize him.

      • wileyvet

        I think I made that clear at the outset and the closing of my post.

  • ConcernedCitizen999

    “The freedom of opinion and expression is in peril in the Western World itself, as a result of the actions of Muslim extremists.”

    FALSE !

    All Western values and the very existence of Western Civilization itself are in peril as a result of ISLAM !

    I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that those who persist in distinguishing between “Muslim moderates” and “Muslim extremists” are just playing “good copy, bad cop”. Both cops have the same objective, the victory of Islam, one by violence and one by deception.

    • carpe diem 36

      not as a result of Islam. The western world has no will to defend freedom, it does not appreciate freedom and is not aware of the enormous danger from giving in to the Moslems, whether by embracing antisemitism, anti isreal or just ignoring what is happening, and letting a bigger immigration of Moslems into all of Europe. We already see what is happening in Scandinavia, in France and England. If the whites in those countries think they will survive, they are putting their heads in the sand.

    • IslamDownpressesHumanity

      Ditto, he had me going until he mentioned muslim “extremists”. I’d love to hear what the author thinks of muslim claims to the Temple Mount, or the rabid, pervasive Jew hatred that is found throughout all the holey books of islam.

  • Dallas25305

    Yes that is the wonderful religion of peace. Let’s hope they don’t get anymore peaceful.

  • carpe diem 36

    as we all can see the free world is no more. The British, the EU and Obama made sure it will disappear and the Jihadies of this world will rule.

    • IslamDownpressesHumanity

      Maybe the PRC and/or Russia will take up the banner of freedom.

  • Biff Henderson

    Magdi Khalil: Are you threatening to eliminate us, you terrorist?! Are you threatening me, you terrorist?!

    Calling Ibrahim Hamami a terrorist is suitable fodder for a sympathetic audience. For the most part the viewers of Al-jazeera do not fit that description and in point of fact Magdi Khalil lessened the impact he could have made convincing the audience about the abuses of Hamas during the conflict because he finalized his talking points by shifting his focus and losing the war of semantics.

    In the introduction to “39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad” by Muhammad bin Ahmad as-Salim he states:

    “My noble brothers: the times in which we live are times of tribulation and estrangement for Islam that history has not witnessed before, where strangeness has become the norm and tribulation has become wide-spread, and where the entire Earth has become a conflict and for the expulsion of those who are firm upon their Din and hold onto it and defend it with their tongues and weapons…therefore, the world has announced its war on terrorism – or, rather, on Jihad – and the opposition to it and its various forms from being utilized by the Muslims.”

    It is a common belief of the Muslim street that “…the world has announced its war on terrorism – or, rather, on Jihad…” and the obligation to defend the Din with their tongues and weapons.

    I get the point of Khalil’s article but it is prudent to tie-in the prime mover of the zombies of the Death Cult of Muhammad.

  • Ken Kelso

    Magdi Khalil you showed exactly how Hamas runs their terror state.

    When people show how Hamas uses Gazans as human shields, Hamas will then threaten the person and his family, kill him or jail him.

    • Ken Kelso

      Israel needs to dedicate a day to get civilians who want to leave Gaza out of the war zone.
      Hamas will collapse without their human shields.

  • Ken Kelso

    http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2014/09/hamas-shot-rockets-at-its-own-people.html#disqus_thread

    Hamas shot rockets at its own people
    September 04, 2014
    The IDF held a briefing for reporters on Tuesday giving new details about Operation Protective Edge. The briefing was wide-ranging, covering Hamas’ professionalism, its rocket fire, the number of militants likely killed, and many other topics.

    The New York Times highlighted this part:

    A senior Israeli military intelligence official acknowledged on Tuesday that only several hundred Hamas operatives out of a total that he put at 16,000 were killed during this summer’s 50-day war in Gaza, leaving the group’s fighting force largely intact.

    The official, briefing reporters at military headquarters here on the condition of anonymity, in line with army protocol, added that the militant groups in Gaza were believed to have held on to 2,500 to 3,000 rockets, about a third of the stock they had before the fighting began on July 8. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and some smaller groups launched about 4,000 rockets, and the Israeli military estimates that it destroyed another 3,000 before a cease-fire halted the fighting a week ago.

    Although Hamas leaders have presented the struggle as a victory for their organization, Israel has “good evidence” that Hamas and Islamic Jihad “suffered a huge, even dramatic hit,” the intelligence official said, arguing that success cannot be measured in numbers. He said that senior commanders were killed, probably thousands of operatives were wounded and significant damage was done to the groups’ military infrastructure.Then comes something interesting but not elaborated on:

    Of the rockets fired by Hamas, 875 fell inside Gaza, according to the official — some of them fired at Israeli ground forces who had entered the Palestinian coastal territory, some that were aimed at Israeli territory but misfired. The official said he believed that stillothers were fired intentionally at the local Palestinian population, “from what I saw in the systems.”Hamas is firing rockets at its own population and the NYT thinks that the big story is that Israel didn’t hurt them that badly?

    Die Welt headlined their article “Hamas apparently shelled its own population” and went into more detail:

    Not only Israel was said to have been in the crosshairs of Hamas [rockets]: A total of 875 [rockets] fired during the war and an unknown number of mortar shells fell in Gaza itself down. Many of them were duds – the weapons are chronically inaccurate.

    Others were aimed at Israeli troop concentrations in Gaza itself. But a large part “were in my opinion deliberately fired by Hamas on densely populated areas in Gaza,” said the Israeli officer. Otherwise he could not explain their trajectory.
    The English-language media is reluctant to highlight any evidence that Hamas would shoot at its own people. Yet we know that it shot its political enemies during the fighting, we know that it used human shields, we know that it purposefully placed weapons caches in schools and hospitals and mosques. If the purpose is to gain propaganda points by showing off dead civilians – something that Hamas itself told Gazans to emphasize at the beginning of the fighting – why is it so unbelievable that Hamas would shoot rockets at its own people as well? Hamas knows very well that not a single NGO in Gaza would bother to check out whether deaths and damage were done by Israeli or Islamist fire – Israel would be blamed reflexively.

    The IDF sees the source, trajectory and future destination of every rocket fired from Gaza. Look at the trajectories of these rockets:

    The terrorists who fired the rockets were not aiming at Israel or at Israeli forces. (IDF ground troops never went that far into Gaza.) Rockets aren’t that inaccurate.

    The same briefing also showed evidence of purposeful Hamas fire from schools:

    The intelligence official presented more evidence to bolster Israel’s assertions that Hamas waged its campaign largely by hiding behind its own civilians. An aerial photograph appeared to show a rocket firing site in the yard of a school in Shejaiya. In before and after pictures, a fabric canopy believed to be hiding the rockets appeared intact, then ripped. Another previously unpublished photograph showed a schoolyard in Beit Lahiya that was empty by day. By night, it was dotted with what looked like several rockets laid out on the ground and boxes that the official said contained more rockets.If Western reporters and NGOs manage to wrap their heads around the simple fact that an Islamist terror group is wiling to endanger and kill their own people to score cheap propaganda points, then many of the deaths of civilians in Gaza may be seen in a new light. Too bad that the reporters and NGOs on the ground in Gaza don’t have the ability to think objectively.

    • carpe diem 36

      you can bet that no one at the UN will investigate Hamas for aiming their rockets at their own people. The UN will automatically blame Israel no matter the evidence.

  • Ken Kelso

    http://blog.camera.org/archives/2014/09/3_health_workers_killed_in_isr.html
    3 “Health Workers” Killed in Israeli Strike Exposed as Terrorists
    September 02, 2014

    The Algemeiner on September 2, 2014 published an article exposing three “heath workers” killed in an Israeli missile strike as Islamic Jihad operatives. The Algemeiner piece reproduces the original report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights [PCHR], one of the better known non-governmental “human rights” groups in Gaza that western news media occasionally cite. PCHR’s entry on Aug. 2 stated,

    At approximately 15:30 (August 1), Israeli warplanes bombarded an ambulance of the Ministry of Health. As a result, 3 health workers were killed: ‘Aatef Saleh al-Zameli, 42, the driver; Yousef Ejmai’an al-Zameli, 33, a nurse; and Yousef Jaber Darabih, 25, a volunteer paramedic.

    The Algemeiner published the martyr photographs of the “driver,” “nurse” and “volunteer paramedic” proudly posted on the web site of the terrorist group, Islamic Jihad, in their military garb.

  • Ken Kelso

    http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2014/09/todays-fake-palestinian-civilians.html#disqus_thread
    September 03, 2014
    Today’s fake Palestinian “civilians”(updated)

    PCHR reported on August 1:

    At approximately 09:00, medical crews were able to recover bodies of 2 civilians who were killed by Israeli forces in al-Shuja’iya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City: Ismail Zuhair Mohammadain, 26; and Mo’ammar Fadel Shamali, 35.

    Here is a photo of the “civilian” Mo’ammar Fadel Shamali when he was alive:

    Shamali was a leader of an elite Qassam Brigades unit.

    UPDATE: Ismail Zuhair Mohammadain was also a Qassam Brigades member identified as a civilian above, here seen holding his civilian weapon (h/t Bob Knot):

    In July 21, PCHR identified this person as a “civilian:”

    Ali Mahmoud Jundiya, 26, was killed by an Israeli artillery shell that hit [his] house.

    Jundiya was also a member of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, and here’s his photo:

    We have quite conclusively proven the “human rights” organizations’ counting of “civilians” is not only flawed but must be knowingly deceptive.

    Previous articles on this subject:

    Fake civilian of the day (8/1, 1 “civilian”)

    The terrorist in the “righteous gentile” family house (8/17, 1 “civilian”)

    Terrorist listed as a 13-year old civilian by “human rights” orgs (8/19, 9 “civilians,” 2 child terrorists and one adult categorized as a child)

    Another fake “civilian” – and another family used as human shields (8/25, at least one “civilian”)

    Fake civilian of the day (8/29, 1 “civilian”)

    Fake Palestinian Civilians of the Day (8/31, 4 “civilians”)

    The Islamic Jihad Terror Ambulance (9/1, 3 “medical workers”)

  • Clockp

    Mr. Khalil:

    My sincere admiration for your guts to standing for the dignity of we the people as members of the human race, and facing up to fascists, who throw their individual responsibility and respect for their fellow man away and revert human progress to tribal warfare, mysticism and cults.

    I am hopeful that within the next generation we can marginalize Hamas, Al Qada and ISIS attitudes within the confines of politics and the rule of law, as is happening with the IRA and the Hutus in Rwanda, from the gangster butchers they are today; but it will take the concerted efforts of all nations working together, and a United States with a leader of courage, willing to defend our remarkable Declaration of Independence and Constitution, respecting and defending the rights of individuals, in the face of onslaughts for all sides, including our own Democratic Party from within. I worry for my teenage son, it will be a struggle he and his peers inherit.