A Hamas Official Explains How His Organization Duped Israel into Thinking It Was Interested in Palestinians’ Wellbeing

As Hamas’s founding charter makes explicit, and Evelyn Gordon underscores in her Mosaic article today, the organization’s goal is not statehood but Israel’s destruction. If this isn’t clear enough from the terrorist group’s actions, it was stated frankly by Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official, in an interview on Russia Today’s Arabic-language television channel. Baraka explains how Hamas sought to lull Israel into a sense of security by acting as if it “it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians” under its rule and had “abandoned the resistance altogether.” He goes on to express his gratitude for the backing of Iran and Russia, and ends with the now-familiar claim that Israelis love life, while Palestinians love death. Thanks to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the 4-minute video is available with English captions here, along with an abbreviated transcript.