KHALED ABU TOAMEH
An April 5 speech by Hamas military spokesman Abu Obaida leaves no doubt: Hamas remains fully committed to jihad (holy war) and rejects disarmament.
Meanwhile, US President Donald J. Trump's "Board of Peace," an initiative to stabilize and rebuild the Gaza Strip, seems to be increasing pressure on Hamas. According to a report published in The New York Times, the board has set a deadline for the terror group to agree to a disarmament framework in the Gaza Strip by the end of the coming week.
Abu Obaida's speech, unfortunately, is an emphatic warning that Hamas has no intention of complying:
"What the enemy is trying to push through today against the Palestinian resistance, via our brotherly mediators [Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey], is extremely dangerous. Raising the issue of weapons in this blunt manner is nothing but an overt attempt to continue the genocide against our people, something we will not accept under any circumstances. What the enemy failed to take from us through tanks and war, it will not be able to take through politics or at the negotiating table."
Far from preparing to disarm, Hamas is publicly declaring its commitment to continued jihad, praising the Iranian regime and its proxies, and inciting Palestinians to escalate attacks against Israel.
The "Board of Peace" is therefore confronting a harsh reality: Hamas, like Iran, is not motivated by deadlines, incentives, or promises of reconstruction. It is motivated by ideology and by war.
The speech, in fact, is a manifesto of defiance.
From the outset, Abu Obaida frames the conflict in explicitly religious terms. Portraying the war not as a territorial dispute, but as a religious obligation, he calls on Muslims to "unite their ranks in confronting the disbelievers."
He goes further by describing the current war as a "decisive phase in the history of this Ummah [Islamic nation]," a turning point meant to restore Islamic dominance and reverse what he calls the humiliation of Muslim lands:
"For even if the balance of power is disturbed, our truth is stronger than their falsehood, and our Ummah is one, its enemy is one."
In Hamas's worldview, the war is not about the Gaza Strip. It is about reshaping the Middle East - and beyond. It is a call for jihad.
Equally revealing is the Hamas spokesman's repeated reference to the "Zionist-American assault" on Iran. By fusing Israel and the US into a single enemy, Hamas is openly declaring that the jihad is not directed only at Israel, but also at Washington. This is a direct message to American policymakers: Hamas does not distinguish between Israel and the US. It sees both as legitimate targets.
The implications are worse than they might at first look.
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