Publishing and Distribution of Hamas Incitement

Home , Yahya Ayyash

Intelligence and Terrorism Information August 20, 2007 Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)

Britain remains a major source of publishing and distribution of Hamas incitement. Despite increasing public awareness of the threat posed by radical Islam, the British authorities do not stop the distribution of hateful propaganda against Israel and the West and publications glorifying suicide terrorism.

Overview

1. The Hamas movement places great importance on the use of written and electronic media as a key tool in the battle for hearts and minds. Its “media empire” includes a satellite television channel, newspapers, a radio station, websites in eight languages, and a publishing house. Hamas uses its media to spread radical Islam and to glorify violence and terrorism to various target audiences in the Palestinian Authority administered territories, in the Arab/Muslim world, and among Arab/Muslim communities in the West.

2. The center of the Hamas “media empire”, guided from Damascus and assisted by Arab countries, is in the Gaza Strip. That media empire has a branch operating in Britain and uses it for printing and distribution of Hamas publications. Such publications include:

a. The monthly Filastin al-Muslimah: Hamas’s major publication since 1981, available in paper edition and in Internet edition. The monthly spreads incitement and hatred against Israel and the West in the spirit of Hamas’s ideology, while preaching terrorism and glorifying its masterminds and perpetrators. 2

b. The online bi-weekly Al-Fateh: this newspaper is geared towards children, whom Hamas considers a highly significant target audience. Similarly to other children’s publications, Al-Fateh is designed to inculcate them with radical Islam and educate them in violence and terrorism from a young age. c.A publishing house named Filastin al-Muslimah Publications: it is a publishing house associated with the Filastin al-Muslimah monthly. It has published books commemorating terrorists and Hamas seniors responsible for planning and initiating terrorist attacks, focusing on suicide terrorism.

3. Hamas’s use of Britain as a major source of publishing and distribution of incitement is hardly coincidental, even though the movement keeps its activity in Britain on a low profile. It is our assessment that there are several factors at play: first, the policy of the British government, allowing Hamas (and radical Islamic elements in general) a relative freedom of action on British territory, particularly in the sphere of propaganda; second, the existence of a network of Arab/Muslim supporters in Britain; third, the technical ability to produce high quality publications in Britain and distribute them across the globe.

4. Following the terrorist attacks perpetrated or thwarted on British territory in recent years, the British government is becoming increasingly aware of the threats posed by radical Islam. However, the British authorities have yet to take effective action to put an end to the exploitation of their country by Hamas for spreading incitement. At issue are radical Islamic indoctrination and glorifying terrorism that could strike a chord not only with Palestinian or Arab/Muslim target audiences worldwide but also with the Muslim community in Britain itself.

5. The appendices that follow contain short summaries about the Hamas newspapers and publishing house in Britain, as well as examples of articles inspiring hatred and preaching terrorism.

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1. Filastin al-Muslimah is the major publication of the Hamas movement. It first started in 1981 as a British students’ publication on behalf of the Muslim Palestinian youth organization in Britain. In 1991, it started appearing regularly every month. In the 1990s, its editorial staff was situated in Jordan. In 1999, as the Hamas offices in Jordan were shut down, the editorial staff relocated to Syria and, from there, to Britain.

2. One of the first editors-in-chief of Filastin al-Muslimah was Dr. Atef Adwan, an old-time Hamas activist, who studied for his Master’s degree and PhD in Political Science in Britain (1983-1987). Atef Adwan served as Sheikh Yassin’s advisor, was held in prison in Israel, and was the Minister of Refugee Affairs in the previous Hamas government (until the establishment of the unity government in March 2007).

Dr. Atef Adwan, one of the editors-in-chief of Filastin al-Muslimah in the publication’s early days

3. From Britain, the monthly spreads the Hamas ideology and political messages to the Palestinian Authority-administered territories, to the 4

Arab/Muslim world and to Muslim communities in the West. Those messages include hatred against Israel and the West, incitement to violence and terrorism, and ideological sympathy with global jihad and radical Islam. The propaganda policy of the monthly is directed by the Hamas leadership in Damascus. Formerly, the propaganda was directed by Abd al-Aziz al-Umari, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau (who may be still involved with the publication). From Britain, the monthly is distributed worldwide in Internet edition1 and most probably also in paper edition.

4. In order to avoid unwanted attention from the British security services, in 2004 Filastin al-Muslimah stopped publishing its address in Britain on the front page. We do not have an up-to-date address of the monthly, which only publishes its e-mail address. Even now, however, there are indications that it is still published from Britain: the following text appears at the top of the list of countries where the newspaper is sold: “Britain and European countries”; the subscription fee of the newspaper worldwide is quoted in pounds sterling rather than in the local currency.

The upper part of the front page of Filastin al-Muslimah (August 2007). The address of the monthly is not shown. Center: the monthly’s website and e-mail addresses. Left: subscription fees in various countries: “Britain and European countries, the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries of the world”. The fees are quoted in pounds sterling. The text on the right says that the editor-in-chief is Rafat Ahmed Saleh. The name of Abd al-Aziz al-Umari no longer appears in Filastin al-Muslimah, a fact which, as we believe, is meant to downplay its association with Hamas.

1 The website of the monthly is www.fm-m.com. Its Internet Service Provider is a Malaysian company. 5

The Filastin al-Muslimah address in Britain, previously found on the front page, no longer appears in the monthly

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An article on Salah Shehada, the founder of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas operative-terrorist wing in the Gaza Strip. The article praises Salah Shehada, responsible for many suicide bombing attacks in Israel (Filastin al-Muslimah, August 2007)

A regular column in Filastin al-Muslimah titled “[Memorial] Lights of Martyrdom” (Qanadil al-Shahada). The column commemorates the terrorist members of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, turning them into role models to be followed (Filastin al- Muslimah, August 2007).

A photograph showing a performance of the Hamas-associated Al-Aqsa Hawks band, with a photograph of Yahya Ayyash (“the Engineer”, the mastermind behind many suicide bombing attacks perpetrated by Hamas) in the background. On the right is a model of a burned down bus, symbolizing the favorite targets of the suicide bombing attacks masterminded by Yahya Ayyash. The photograph appeared in an article praising Yahya Ayyash and the terrorist attacks of his planning (Filastin al- Muslimah, January 2006).

A full-page poster in the June 2003 issue of Filastin al-Muslimah commemorating suicide bombers who were members of the Izz al- Din al-Qassam Brigades, thus glorifying suicide bombers as role models.

An extensive article on the suicide bombing attack at Mike’s Place, on the Tel-Aviv promenade, perpetrated by two British nationals of Pakistani descent dispatched by Hamas (April 30, 2003). Three Israelis were killed and more than 60 were wounded in the attack. The title reads: “[The Israelis] fear the Muslims”; the title below reads: “Following the Tel-Aviv action, Zionists fear that Muslims [from across the globe] will join the Palestinian resistance” (Filastin al-Muslimah, June 2003).

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Photographs of children carrying arms designed to inculcate them with the value of armed struggle against Israel (from a column titled “The Children of Palestine” on the Al-Fateh website)

1.The Hamas movement pays particular attention to children, whom it considers to be a highly significant target audience and a pool of the movement’s future generations of terrorist operatives. Al-Fateh is a newspaper that spreads the Hamas ideology and political messages, combining them with articles and illustrations designed for children. The first issues were published in 2002, first as a monthly and then as a bi-weekly newspaper. It is now an online newspaper, although it was formerly available in paper edition as well. Its address is www.al-fateh.net.

2. Al-Fateh is published in London, which is explicitly stated on its homepage (unlike Filastin al-Muslimah, which prefers not to flaunt that fact). The themes of the bi-weekly are unmistakably associated with the Hamas movement. The homepage of the Hamas main website (www.palestine- info.info/ar) contains a permanent link to the Al-Fateh website.

יוצאin לאור Publishedבלונדון, Britainבריטניה ,London

According to the Al-Fateh homepage, it is published in London, Britain, on the 1st and 15th of every month.

The link to Al- Fateh on palestine- info, the Hamas website in the Arabic language

3. Al-Fateh’s editor-in-chief and founder is Sami al-Halabi (as noted on the Al- Fateh homepage). Sami al-Halabi is an alias. It is the pen name of Abdallah al- Tantawi, who was a senior figure in the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the mid-1990s (Hamas being the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood).

Abdallah al-Tantawi: specializes in spreading radical Islamic incitement among children and teenagers

4. According to an article in an Islamic newspaper published in Germany (Al- Raed, February 2005), Abdallah al-Tantawi founded the Al-Fateh newspaper (September 2002), was a co-founder of other Islamic-oriented children’s newspapers, and was their editor-in-chief. The article states that Firas was one of those newspapers, in which Abdallah al-Tantawi used to write under the pen name Sami al-Halabi due to “political reasons” (that is, security reasons, to make himself more difficult to expose). The article states that by founding the Al-Fateh newspaper, Al-Tantawi got his first opportunity to penetrate the World Wide Web.

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Photographs of a child in uniform and a woman carrying a rifle designed to nurture the value of armed struggle against Israel. The photographs appear in a section titled “The Children of Palestine” (July 2007)

“The heroic martyr Raed Misk”, a suicide bomber

An excerpt from the article on Raed Misk, showing the Homepage of the Al-Fateh website, August 1, 2007. In the wreck of the bus where Raed Misk perpetrated the upper left is a photograph of suicide bomber Raed Misk suicide bombing attack. The article ends with the with his children. A Resident of Hebron, Raed Misk was following words: “To the gardens of eternity, oh, heroic an imam in one of the mosques, who perpetrated a martyr. Allah will bring us together with you in Paradise, suicide bombing attack on a bus in Jerusalem on August Allah willing.” It should be noted that Al-Fateh 19, 2003. The suicide bombing led to the deaths of 23 systematically includes an article on a “shahid” belonging Israeli passengers, about a third of them children. to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the operative- Filastin al-Muslimah also published an article glorifying terrorist wing of Hamas. Raed Misk and the suicide bombing he perpetrated.1

An Al-Fateh webpage dedicated to “shahid” Muhammad Abu Karsh, an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades senior operative who was responsible for firing Qassam rockets on Israel and was killed by the IDF (April 2007)

Nurturing hatred of Israel using a computer game. The children playing the game have to stone the Israeli soldier, appearing in the guise of a snake (an anti-Semitic theme), or to shoot him. The winner is the first to reach the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (May 2007)

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1. The Hamas movement in Britain operated (and perhaps still operates) a publishing house which published books commemorating and glorifying senior Hamas terrorists. The publishing house is called Filastin al-Muslimah Publications (Manshurat Filastin al-Muslimah) and is associated with the Filastin al-Muslimah monthly, published in Britain. The publishing house produced books on senior figures in the Hamas operative-terrorist wing: Salah Shehada, Yahya Ayyash, and Imad Aqel. In 2004, the publishing house printed a book named My Homeland is with Me (Watani Ma’i). Since that time, we do not know what additional books, if any, were printed by the publishing house.

2. One of the major “authors” in the Filastin al-Muslimah publishing house is Ghassan Daw’ar, referred to by Hamas as “the historian of the intifada” (i.e., the campaign of terrorism against Israel) and “the historian of the shahids”. Ghassan Daw’ar also writes articles for Hamas’s main website (palestine-info). In 1999, he was arrested in Jordan with other Hamas leaders. According to the Hamas website, he was arrested for his involvement in a committee that objected to the normalization of relations with the “Zionist enemy”.2

3. Ghassan Daw’ar’s books and articles focus on nurturing the concept of martyrdom (shahada) and preaching suicide bombing terrorism. This is reflected in the books he wrote on Yahya Ayyash and Imad Aqel, two of the most prominent masterminds and architects of Hamas’s suicide bombing terrorism.3 In addition, between March 29 and April 4, 2007, Daw’ar published a series of articles in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, dealing with the mothers of suicide bombers. Titled “Palestinian

2 See http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/yawmiat/6_2_01.htm. 3 In 2001, Filastin al-Muslimah Publications published another book glorifying Yahya Ayyash, written by Mukhles Barzaq, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza City. The book is titled “In Praise of the Shahid Yahya Ayyash”. Mukhles Barzaq also writes for the Hamas main website (palestine-info) and for the Filastin al-Muslimah monthly. 14

Women in the Intifada”, the articles praise the perpetrators of suicide bombing attacks and their mothers.

4. Like the Filastin al-Muslimah monthly, the publishing house associated with it avoided (and perhaps still avoids) publishing its address in Britain. Formerly, the caption “P.O.B 2502, London” used to appear on the books, the same address once used by Filastin al-Muslimah. We do not know the publishing house’s current address.

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The back cover of the book about The cover of the book “Engineer Shahid Yahya Ayyash. The address on the Yahya Ayyash, Symbol of the Jihad and book is identical to the one formerly Commander of the Resistance in Palestine”. found on the Filastin al-Muslimah The book glorifies Yahya Ayyash, turning monthly. In addition, there is him into a role model to be followed. The another address to which those book was published in 1997 (first edition) interested in purchasing the books and also appeared on the Hamas website in printed by Filastin al-Muslimah Arabic (palestine-info). Publications can write: Amman, Al- Madina al-Riyadiyya, Jordan, P.O.B 961618.

9. Yahya Ayyash headed the operative-terrorist wing of Hamas in the West .9 Bank and the Gaza Strip. He specialized in the preparation of explosive charges and dispatching suicide bombers in the years 1994-1996, with the clear purpose of undermining the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993. He was codenamed “The Engineer” since he had a degree in Electric Engineering from Bir Zeit University, and used the knowledge he gained during his studies to manufacture the explosive charges used by the suicide bombers. Yahya Ayyash was responsible for killing some 55 Israeli civilians and injuring some 430 in a series of particularly devastating terrorist attacks that struck the cities of Israel. He died in a retaliatory targeted killing by the

Israeli security forces on January 5, 1996.

10. The following is an excerpt from Ghassan Daw’ar’s foreword to the book he wrote on Yahya Ayyash (“The Engineer”): “The Engineer is the title of the authentic Palestinian myth, which restored hope, did away with despair, and returned life [to Muslims] in the spirit of jihad and resistance in Palestine…” Sheikh Yussuf al-Qardawi, a senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood preaching suicide terrorism against Israel, also wrote in the book’s foreword: “The talented Engineer, the jihad warrior, the shahid Yahya Ayyash, who dedicated himself, his talents, the best of his time and efforts… to a big, important problem, the primary problem of Muslims [across the globe]… His brothers called him “the Engineer of Generations”, since he possessed the skills and experience in engineering and planning suicide operations… against the cruelty and insolence of the Zionist entity…”