Hamas hardliner Mahmoud Al-Zahar's book, No Future Between Nations, echoes a recent anti-Semitic speech he delivered, according to a report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center this month.
In his speech which aired live on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV on Nov. 5, Zahar stated that Jews have been expelled from the countries they were living in because they committed crimes including theft.
"The expulsion will come, Allah willing, from Palestine, from the entire territory of Palestine, Allah willing," Zahar said near the end of the speech. "We are no less strong or honorable as the peoples who expelled and uprooted them. We are about to expel them. We have learned our lesson. You have no place among us and [Jews] have no future between nations. You are about to disappear, and we are about to emerge victorious" [Emphasis added].
Published in 2008, Zahar dedicated his book to "the millions of shaheeds, the wounded, and the crippled, victims of Zionism and colonialist occupation … and all those interested in knowing the truth behind Zionism and its agents…to anyone who wishes to know the role played by the Jews throughout history…"
Jews, Zahar writes, are responsible for anti-Semitism, because "no one believes the story that all the nations came together to persecute one people just because they are Jews. The truth is that it is a result of the actions of the Jews themselves and their animosity towards the nations among which they lived."
Jews also benefit from such anti-Semitism, Zahar writes. "The bigger question is who stands behind the nations' animosity towards the Jews and who benefits from that situation. The answer to that question is: the Zionists are the cause that generates anti-Semitism and they are the ones who benefit the most from it" [Emphasis added].
A copy of Zahar's book was found on board the Mavi Marmara, the IHH boat that took part in the May flotilla to Gaza that ended in a deadly clash with Israeli soldiers.
Last month Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas, met with the UK-based group Viva Palestina in Gaza.