We are not Hamas

When the leadership of a community – especially the spiritual leadership – stands up in support of an internationally recognised terrorist organisation, we cannot ignore it.

“I am Hamas! Cape Town is Hamas!” shouted Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) President Sheikh Riad Fataar, who went on to say why he and his community are so committed to giving these heinous terrorists their absolute support. We ran this story on our front page last week because we believe you need to know.

There has been an outcry from the ANC in Cape Town and various Muslim organisations who claimed we were being Islamophobic because the MJC leader’s words distressed us. They were clearly angry that we, the Jewish community, had allegedly launched a smear campaign by calling out the MJC leader for doing this.

Well, here’s the thing, we have no issues with the Muslim community in this country. In fact, we live happily side by side. We’re all South Africans and neighbours, and we’re happy with that. I have always believed both Muslims and Jews are happy with that.

However, it’s not about having problems with Muslims, it’s about having a problem with people who openly support an organisation not just calling for the death of all Jews, the total eradication of the Jewish state “from the river to the sea”, but which is actually doing its best to carry that out.

We have a problem with people so deeply supporting the self-same terrorists who broke through the border between Israel and Gaza, brutally murdered 1 200 innocent Israelis, including babies, children, and women. They violently gang raped G-d knows how many people before murdering them. The gender-based mutilation perpetrated on 7 October in Israel knew no bounds, especially at the Nova festival, a festival in the name of peace.

These monsters, whom the MJC leader supports, went on to kidnap 250 innocent people violently and took them hostage into Gaza. Today, almost a year later, there are still more than 100 of our people being held hostage in the most inhumane conditions.

Less than two weeks ago, this same terrorist organisation executed six young hostages, most of whom were taken from the Nova festival and somehow managed to survive 11 months of incarceration.

Just this week, we were able to see the tunnel where they were held. It was so low, they couldn’t stand up, nor could they be side by side in the width of the tunnel. It was dark and frightening, with no air. It was accessible through a door in the floor of a children’s room in a house. The 20 metre shaft went straight down to the tunnel that then ended in an iron door.

No matter what Sheikh Fataar and all those who came out in support of him said, I don’t believe that Hamas represents Islamic ideals and beliefs. I don’t believe that all Muslims support Hamas or that they believe this organisation represents them.

That would be like saying that they all support ISIS, which I know isn’t true.

Saying that, I find it concerning and distressing to see that people are coming out in support of the MJC leader’s declared support for Hamas. I understand that they respect him and his position. However, defending Hamas is defending the indefensible.

Having run this original story on our front page because it was so shocking, we also had minor backlash from a few members of our community. However, their anger was because they believed we shouldn’t be running stories like this but rather sticking to good news and happy stories.

In all honesty, we love happy stories, and we wish we only had these stories to tell you. However, we are a news publication and, as such, we believe it’s incumbent on us to tell you the truth about our situation. We don’t believe we should be hiding things that are unpleasant or distressing. That would be tantamount to us shoving all our heads in the sand.

We do, however, look far and wide for happy stories and stories with happy endings. And hopefully, this story and others that are hard to read will have uplifting endings too.

I do believe there are many Muslims in this country who may well support the rights of Palestinians – and they have every right to – but don’t support Hamas in what it does.

They may well hate the fact that there are so many Palestinians being killed in this war, and they aren’t alone. However, I’m also sure they are aware of how Hamas uses innocent Palestinians – especially women and children – as cannon fodder in this battle.

The truth is that in every community, there are people with opposing opinions. Some people in one family may declare undying support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, believing him to be Israel’s saviour, while others in that same family believe he is the worst thing that happened to Israel. Everyone in that family believes 100% in the Jewish state, but they may never agree on this, among other issues.

This week, I heard someone in our community claiming that the hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters, who are demanding that their government comes to an agreement to bring the hostages home, may as well have been working for Hamas. However, so many others in this same community wholly support the protesters and what they stand for.

So, though I can see that we struck a chord in uncovering this clear allegiance to Hamas from a South African Muslim leader, I don’t believe this is a sentiment shared across the board within our Muslim community. I believe we all want the same things – to live a stress-free, secure and peaceful life in this country.

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor