Hamas Merged Nazi and Islamist Ideologies

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Every nation has committed misdeeds that they are not proud of. In American history, the enslavement of Africans is a badge of shame, whose legacy continues to challenge us in even modern times, as we attempt to eradicate the social evils of racism in our society.

Societies, like individuals, will always be tested from time to time.

Maimonides once wrote in his Laws of Teshuvah (Repentance)

–Who truly embodies complete Teshuvah? It is the individual who faces the same situation that once led them to sin and has the opportunity to commit that sin again but chooses not to. This choice comes solely from their genuine repentance, not driven by fear or a lack of ability.

–Consider this: An individual once had an illicit affair. Later, they find themselves alone with the same person, in the same setting, with the same feelings and physical desire intact. Yet, they restrain themselves and do not falter. Such an individual exemplifies a true Baal-Teshuvah. King Solomon hinted at this when he said in Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the challenging days come…”

In terms of history, Maimonides’ concept of repentance has profound social implications.

When we look back at the history of World War II, the historian William L. Shirer once wrote: “Not every German who bought a copy of Mein Kampf necessarily read it … But it might be argued that had more non-Nazi Germans read it before 1933 and had the foreign statesmen of the world perused it carefully while there was still time, both Germany and the world might have been saved from catastrophe.”

When we look back at Nazism, we often forget that Hitler declared early on in his book, Mein Kampf, his goal to eradicate the Jewish population of Europe. Liberal-minded people could not imagine that a modern person living in one of the brightest and most scientific-minded countries was capable of conceiving and acting out of his genocidal fantasies against the Jews.

Hitler’s fanaticism and the legacy of his henchmen in implementing his “Final Solution” against the Jews cannot begin to compare with the Islamic fanaticism of Hamas. Unlike the Nazis, who did their best to conceal their genocidal crimes against the Jews, the followers of Hamas take immense pride in carrying out their acts of mayhem against the Jew, as we saw in the recent October 7th attack against the Jews on Shabbat and during the holiday of Simchat Torah.

Jews in living in Western countries find it hard to imagine how any people could be motivated by such atavistic impulses. Too many of us are delusional in our belief that human nature is essentially good.

As a child of a Holocaust survivor, I am under no such illusion.

The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was Haj Amin al-Husseini. He found refuge in Germany in 1941 and engaged in discussions with Adolf Hitler and other key Nazi figures. His objective was to extend the Nazis’ anti-Semitic policies to the Arab territories. He mobilized 20,000 Muslim volunteers for the SS, who were involved in the Holocaust in Croatia and Hungary. Although Hitler had no love for Semites (Jewish or Muslim), Hitler’s followers admired the animus that the Arab leader felt toward the Jew.[1]

Hamas emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Thus, while they function in different geographical areas and under distinct political circumstances, their ideological underpinnings are rooted in the teachings and principles of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hamas’ 1988 charter left no doubt that this terrorist organization aimed to not only destroy the State of Israel, but also to eliminate its entire Jewish population. Article 2 reads:

–The covenant opens with a message that precisely encapsulates Hamas’s master plan. Quoting Hassan al-Banna, the Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a constituent member (Article 2), the document proclaims, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

Contrary to the view espoused by many Jewish liberals, who know little or nothing about Hamas, the same Hamas charter continues:

–The Day of Judgement will not come about,” it proclaims, “until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”

Had Nazism been fueled by this type of religious fanaticism, Hitler would have conquered the civilized world with little difficulty. The radical Islamism of Hamas realized that to achieve its goal of destroying the Jewish people, it would have to inculcate these values to the future generations: Article 15 of the Hamas Charter makes this point abundantly clear:

–“It is important that basic changes be made in the school curriculum, to cleanse it of the traces of ideological invasion that affected it as a result of the orientalists and missionaries who infiltrated the region following the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah el-Din (Saladin).”

When we look at the pictures of Jewish infants being beheaded, children being sexually violated, maidens being gang-raped by Hamas terrorists, and innocent civilians being killed en masse, one thing is certain:

Hamas is a reminder that evil is a recalcitrant force—especially when it is fueled by religious fanaticism. Hamas must be defanged and destroyed, otherwise, in the future, they will be attacking Israel with nuclear weapons. The future of the world depends upon defeating those governed by their atavistic impulses.

Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted via [email protected]. This article is republished from San Diego Jewish World which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.
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[1] In 2017, a revealing document emerged, showcasing the bond between Nazi Germany and the Mufti. A letter from SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, preserved in the National Library of Israel Archives, lauded Mufti al-Husseini. Himmler admired the Arab resistance against “Jewish invaders,”particularly in Palestine. This correspondence, dated two years past the Mufti’s significant meeting with Hitler, underscores the deep-rooted ties between Nazi Germany and Haj Amin al-Husseini. See Letter written to Grand Mufti from Himmler Uncovered, YNet News, (March 30, 2017)