Report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on Filastin al-Muslimah

A full page poster in the June 2003 Filisteen Almuslima monthly issue commemorating Hamas suicide terrorists who in May 2003 carried out suicide bombings in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Kfar Darom (including the suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem killing 7 and wounding dozens).


Filastin al-Muslimah, a Hamas monthly distributed from the UK, continues to incite to terrorism, mainly suicide bombing terrorism. At the same time, it disseminates messages denying Israel’s existence and expressing sympathy for global jihad elements.

A newly issued report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel shows that a Hamas monthly published from the United Kingdom - considered a “primary mouthpiece” - continues to advocate terrorist suicide bombing, turning its perpetrators in to role models for the new generation of Palestinians.

In the report released by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an analysis is carried out of the January and February issues of Filastin al-Muslimah. The analysis shows how the periodical, available throughout the Muslim world and Europe, glorifies suicide bombing against civilians, expresses its support for the “global Jihad” and denies the existence of Israel.

Filastin al-Muslimah, an elegant monthly that serves as Hamas’ primary mouthpiece since the movement first came into being, is directed from Damascus, printed (or published) in Beirut, and continues to be distributed from the UK to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Arab world, and even Muslim communities in Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. It is available both in hard copies and in an internet edition, also directed from Beirut. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies has been monitoring Filastin al-Muslimah as part of its monitoring of the battle for hearts and minds waged by Hamas. Reviewed this time are the January and February 2006 issues of the periodical, as published on its website. Those two issues, published on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the death of Yahya Ayyash and Hamas’ victory in the elections, provide a wide coverage of Hamas’ radical Islamic worldview. It is reflected both in relation to the confrontation with Israel and the identification with global jihad, with a particular emphasis placed on nurturing suicide bombing terrorism and turning its perpetrators into myths and role models.
Its September issue pays tribute to the suicide attack against Israel carried out on a Jerusalem bus in which 23 civilians were killed, a third of them children. The organ's ultimate aims are to make a role model of the suicide bomber and thus to promote further similar attacks”

The introduction at the beginning of the issue concludes with the following:“…We extend our best wishes to the entire Palestinian people. May the elections be a turning point towards national unity and support of the resistance [i.e., anti-Israeli violence and terrorism].” The editorial states: “These [election] results are testimony that the vast majority of the Palestinian people on the inside [i.e., in the Palestinian Authority administered territories] have voted for the plan of resistance, for change, and for reforms. Therefore, those who demand Hamas to stop resisting the occupation are putting themselves against the opinion of the majority of the voters.” The main story in the issue deals with Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. The article quotes parts of Hamas’ election platform, according to which the “resistance” [i.e., violence and terrorism] against Israel must be continued and there is a religious Islamic ban on recognizing it. The following is an excerpt of the platform: “Palestine is part of the Arab and Muslim land whose validity does not expire over time, and no so-called military or legal moves will change that. ”The article stresses that through their votes in the elections, the Palestinian people expressed their adherence to “the path of resistance” [i.e., violence and terrorism] and their adherence to historical Palestine, from the river to the sea [i.e., the elimination of the State of Israel]. It goes on to say: “The people have expressed their opinion [by voting in the elections], [that is] they object to the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap and all the agreements and understandings [of the Palestinians] signed with the [Israeli] occupation.” The issue features an article stating that Khaled Mash’al, head of the Hamas Political Bureau (and the movement’s de facto leader), stressed once again that the movement stands by its weapons and resistance (muqawama) as a strategic option “until the liberation of every inch of Palestinian land and the return of every refugee to his land and homeland.”

As part of Filastin al-Muslimah’s effort to nurture suicide bombing terrorism, this issue also features an article covering “an act of suicide”. It is the suicide bombing attack that occurred at the Tel-Aviv central bus station on January 19, 2006, in which some 30 people were wounded. The suicide bombing attack, also perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is described as a “heroic act of sacrifice for the sake of Allah”, and the responsible suicide bomber is called istishhadi, that is, one who perpetrated an act of heroism for Allah. This issue also features an article encouraging terrorist attacks against the US forces in Iraq out of Islamic religious rationales. The article includes an interview with Tareq al-Hashemi, Secretary General of the Islamic Party in Iraq, in which he states that the liberation (of Iraq from the Americans) will only occur through every kind of holy war (jihad), mainly armed jihad. The article reflects, in fact, Hamas’ affinity with global jihad and its association with elements of global jihad and their activities worldwide.6In the interview, Al-Hashemi repeatedly states that “ours is a legitimate, serious position, taking the side of the resistance [al-muqawama] and [even] approving of it. The liberation [of Iraq] will not take place but by all kinds of holy war [jihad], mainly armed holy war [al-jihad al-musallah]. The issue features an article titled “Paying full respect to martyrdom”, which includes praise for martyrdom for the sake of Allah (shahadah).
Martyrdom for the sake of Allah is not only the peak of jihad, it is also the peak of life in any shape or form. The writer of the article praises “leader shahids” and makes an example of prominent shahids, including Hamas leaders (Ahmed Yassin, Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi, Yahya Ayyash), Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt (Hassan al-Bana and Sayyid Qutb), and Abdallah Azzam, a Palestinian from northern Samaria who was Osama Bin Laden’s ideologist.
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