RUTHFULLY YOURS

International mediators and world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, are hoping to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas terror group before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts on March 10.

On March 5, Biden warned of potential problems without a ceasefire deal by Ramadan. “There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan – if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous,” he told reporters in Washington.

Such statements are undoubtedly based on the extremely false assumption that Muslims do not engage in wars and armed conflicts during the month of fasting. In fact, the opposite is true. As the New York Times reported “It is widely believed that the rewards earned for noble acts are greater during Ramadan….”

“In the holy month of Ramadan,” according to fatwa 1566/10013/L=1431, “the reward of virtues is increased.”

Uninformed Western statements also ignore that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have never hesitated to use Jewish holidays to wage war, carry out terrorist attacks and murder Jews, including October 7, 2023, which was the Jewish Sabbath and the Simchat Torah holiday — not to mention the launch of the Yom Kippur War by Egypt and Syria.

Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have long been using Ramadan to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel.

Hamas, through its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, even published an article entitled, “Ramadan – The Month of Jihad, Fighting, and Victory over the Enemies.”

During the fasting month of Ramadan, Hamas claimed, “the Jihad fighter dedicates himself to the study of Islam by day he sets forth to defend his homeland, Palestine, by night.”

The article harked back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, part of which took place during Ramadan. “This month has seen the actualization of exceptional Islamic victories,” the group said. During the war, the article claimed, “the Palestinian resistance, chiefly the al-Qassam Brigades, fought the most impressive battles of heroism and martyrdom.”

In 2022, the Hamas website posted : “We welcome the blessed month of Ramadan, the month of jihad, martyrdom, and mighty victories.”

In May 2021, the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera TV station, which serves as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, published on its website an article headlined, “Month of Jihad and Victories: How the Palestinian Resistance Turned Ramadan into the Season of Attacks and Victories.” The author, Adnan Abu Amer, a Palestinian political science lecturer at Al-Ummah University in Gaza, listed a long line of deadly attacks by the Palestinian terror organizations – against both soldiers and civilians, including suicide bombings – that were deliberately carried out during Ramadan.

In Ramadan in 2017, for example, three terrorists – members of the Jabarin family of the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, murdered two Israeli Border Police officers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.

A year earlier, also during Ramadan, two Palestinian cousins, Mohammed and Khalil Mukhamara, carried out a shooting attack in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market, murdering four Israelis and wounding 40 others.

During Ramadan in 2015, a Palestinian terrorist carried out a stabbing attack against two Israeli police officers near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Abu Amer also pointed out that the 2014 Israel-Hamas war coincided with Ramadan and served as a model for resistance groups because it included “the most prominent acts of heroism by the resistance in the history of Palestine and the conflict with the occupation.”

According to Amer:

“Every year, at the beginning of Ramadan, the military branches of the Palestinian resistance factions stress that this is a [special] month, in which the jihad fighters pray during the daytime and defend their Palestinian homeland during the night. It is a month marked by outstanding Muslim victories, and the month during which the resistance carried out [its] most impressive wars of heroism and sacrifice. It is the custom of the resistance to step up its activity during Ramadan. The Ramadan atmosphere increases the readiness for sacrifice, due to its religious and psychological effect, which is automatically felt by the resistance fighters.”

In 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based Iran-backed terror proxy, fired rockets into Israel during Ramadan. During that Ramadan, Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem rioted, burned tires, threw rocks, shot fireworks and clashed with Israeli police officers and soldiers. The Palestinians also chanted slogans praising the terrorist leaders of Hamas.

Throughout history, Muslims have taken advantage of Ramadan to wage war against their enemies. Five historic Islamic battles were fought in the month of Ramadan: Battle of Badr, Conquest of Mecca, Battle of Tabuk, Battle of Amin Jalut, and Battle of Hattin.

So, while non-Muslims such as Biden appear to be worried about violence and bloodshed during Ramadan, the Palestinian terror groups have repeatedly shown quite an appetite for it during their own holy month by engaging in terrorism and murdering Jews.

During the Jewish holiday of Passover in 2002, while 250 guests of the Park Hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya were celebrating the traditional Passover Seder in the hotel dining room, Abdel Basset Oder, a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a woman, entered the hotel with a suitcase containing powerful explosives. He detonated the bomb, killing 30 civilians and wounding 150 others. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors; most were senior citizens (70 and over).

The Palestinian terror groups have long demonstrated that they do not care about any holiday – Muslim or Jewish – when it comes to advancing their goal of murdering Jews. Those who believe that Hamas seeks a ceasefire ahead of Ramadan are deluding themselves. Those who are concerned about the sanctity of the holy month ought to listen to what the terrorists themselves are saying: Ramadan actually increases their desire for Jewish blood.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.