Is Hamas Worse Than the Nazis?

Douglas Murray would have you believe the answer is yes.

On Veteran’s Day’s observance, and on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a new major dustup has emerged regarding Douglas Murray and his opinion that Hamas is worse than the Nazis ever were. Rather than attempting to make his point for him, this video sums up his view pretty well (the whole interview is good, but the claim is made beginning at about 12:08):

He states here (in between rocket attacks from Gaza) that the comparison to Nazis is insufficient. Further, in his piece in the Jewish Chronicle this week, Mr. Murray relayed his reactions to the videos he was shown of Hamas terrorists on October 7th:

Many [SS and other members of the death squads of the Nazis] spent their evenings getting blind drunk to try to forget. Nazi commanders had to worry about staff “morale”. When the war ended, the Nazis tried to pretend that Treblinka and other death camps never existed.

Compare this with the behaviour of Hamas on October 7. As those of us who have viewed the raw footage from the day have seen and heard for ourselves, these terrorists were not just pleased with what they were doing.  They were elated. They spent the whole time screaming “Allahu Akbar” with delight. As they decapitated bodies and shot terrified civilians, they were grinning, congratulating each other and seeking acclaim from others.

In one call which the Israelis captured and played, a young Hamas terrorist called back to Gaza to boast to his parents that he, their son, had killed ten Jews “with my own hands”. He was ecstatic with joy. And desperate that his father and then his mother would give him their praise he desired. They did. Their boy had turned out good.

Godwin’s law states that the longer a discussion on the web goes on, the more likely it is that a comparison to Nazis or Hitler will ensue. It is a critique of the hyperbolic assertions nearly constant in online discussions.

Nonetheless, the worst killing of innocent Jews since the Holocaust is the exception to the rule. If Dante is correct and there are levels of Hell, the perpetrators of the Holocaust certainly are spending eternity on one of its lowest floors. But a terrorist organization, whose charter publicly extolls the goal of the extermination of all Jews globally, and which continues to celebrate the brutal murder, rape and desecration of 1400 Jewish civilians may belong lower still. Here’s a take from Time, on Hamas’ “media strategy,” if you can believe it. They plotted the murder of 1400 innocents to improve their social status amongst terrorists:

The dominant theory for the shift in Hamas’ media strategy is that the group wanted to prove, visually, to Palestinians and regional allies that it is a force against Israel, helping it to gain political clout. In recent years, rival groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda have criticized Hamas for cutting deals with the Israelis—like allowing Palestinian workers from Gaza into Israel—and not fighting them with enough ferocity. “Hamas wants genuine images of itself as resistance,” says Daniel Byman, a terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In that, it is mimicking the social media strategy of ISIS. “One thing ISIS did very effectively was allowing its individual fighters to film their exploits in their own eyes. Whether they lived or died, there were advantages to both. They were triumphant warriors or they were heroic martyrs.”

This is also religious fundamentalism at its worst. Nazis, at least publicly, demonstrated shame at what they had done. They tried to cover up the Holocaust from the beginning to the end, even years after, when all was known. These Hamas terrorists, strikingly, exult in their destruction of innocent humans. They are unapologetic in their call for the extermination of an entire people. It is a new low in human failure, as they and other murderous cults race to the bottom of humanity’s darkness.

And lest you think that Hamas are freedom fighters - fighting “apartheid” or “colonialism,” euphemisms which ignore 70 years of war, terror attacks and violence - here’s a brief summary of the “freedom” Hamas has imposed on Gaza’s since it took control by force from the Fatah party in 2007, taken from a report by Freedom House concerning Gaza, emphases added:

The media are not free in Gaza…Gazan journalists and bloggers continue to face repression from the Hamas government’s internal security apparatus and from Israeli forces. A reporter for a pro-Fatah radio station, Hani al-Agha, was detained by Hamas authorities in September 2019 and released more than a month later as part of a larger amnesty. In a 2018 report, Human Rights Watch detailed a pattern of arrests, interrogations, and in some cases beatings and torture of journalists in Gaza.

Freedom of religion is restricted...Blasphemy is a criminal offense. Hamas authorities have enforced conservative Sunni Islamic practices and attempted to exert political control over mosques.

Primary and secondary schools in the Gaza Strip are run by Hamas, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), or private entities. In the Hamas-run Islamic University, people are separated by gender, and women are obliged to cover their hair. Hamas intervenes in the schools under its control to uphold its views on Islamic identity and morality.

Intimidation by Hamas militants and other armed groups has some effect on personal expression and private discussion in Gaza, and the authorities monitor social media for critical content. A 2018 Human Rights Watch report documented a number of incidents in which Hamas intimidated, detained, or abused individuals in response to their social media activity or attendance at political events

Hamas also significantly restricts freedom of assembly, with security forces violently dispersing unapproved public gatherings. In response to March 2019 protests against the economic situation under the slogan We Want to Live, Hamas security forces arrested more than 1,000 demonstrators and allegedly beat some participants. The crackdown was seen as particularly harsh compared with other such actions by the Hamas-led government in recent years.

Hamas maintains an ad hoc judicial system that is separate from the PA structures headquartered in the West Bank, which do not operate in Gaza. The system is subject to political control, and Palestinian judges lack proper training and experience.

Hamas security forces and militants regularly carry out arbitrary arrests and detentions. The court system overseen by Hamas generally fails to ensure due process, and in some cases civilians are subject to trial by special military courts.

Hamas-led authorities have applied the death penalty without due process or adequate opportunity for appeals, and without the legally required approval from the PA president.

The legal system operating in Gaza offers few protections against harassment and discrimination for women and other vulnerable groups, including LGBT+ people. Laws dating to the British Mandate era authorize up to 10 years in prison for sexual acts between men.

Palestinian laws and societal norms, derived in part from Sharia (Islamic law), put women at a disadvantage in matters such as marriage and divorce. The Hamas authorities have enforced restrictions on personal attire and behavior that they deem immoral, though enforcement has relaxed in recent years. Rape and domestic violence remain underreported and frequently go unpunished, as authorities are allegedly reluctant to pursue such cases.

So-called honor killings reportedly continue to occur [an honor killing is the murder of a woman for being promiscuous], though information on the situation in Gaza is limited. Some women in Gaza took park in small protests against such violence in tandem with larger demonstrations elsewhere that were prompted by the August 2019 murder of Israa Ghrayeb, a West Bank Palestinian woman who was allegedly killed by male relatives after she posted an image of herself with her fiancé online.

A Free Palestine, it is not. You may disagree with Mr. Murray’s opinion that Hamas is worse than the Nazis, but you can not possibly support this brutal, murderous, authoritarian, fundamentalist movement. It is the shame of the world.