On May 31, 2010, a member of the Al-Falluja jihadist web forum posted an essay about the Gaza flotilla events by Sheikh Hussein bin Mahmud, a pseudonymous cleric who is well respected in the online global jihadist community.
Generally speaking, the jihadist forums have not focused much attention on the flotilla issue. Salafi jihadis are generally hostile to both the Turkish and Hamas governments, and are disdainful of Western public opinion and diplomatic activity. Thus, Sheikh Hussein mocks the idea of the flotilla, calling it a hopeless "suicide mission" that will do nothing to end the siege on Gaza; he ridicules Turkey's response to the events, saying that it should have declared jihad to liberate Palestine, or at least carried out naval attacks in retribution; and argues that what Gaza really needs is weaponry and commanders like Osama bin Laden and Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. He concludes his essay by saying that the battle must begin with a fight against the armies of Israel's Arab neighbors, who are preventing the mujahideen from entering Palestine to fight the Jews.
Following are excerpts from Hussein bin Mahmud's essay:
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"The Jews Have Become Less Rough and Violent than They Used to Be"
"Hundreds of troops from the navy of the Jews, with air support, mounted a coordinated assault on the ships in the flotilla, using bullets and gas, and killing several of the unarmed passengers; the rest they brought to Ashdod port in occupied Palestine...
"What drew my attention is that the Jews have become less rough and violent than they used to be. There was an aspect of softness and calm in their dealings with these ships. Some might express amazement at these words, but they are the truth…
"The Jews betrayed Moses… They killed many of the prophets, and especially Yahya bin Zakariya [i.e. John the Baptist]… They conspired to kill our Prophet Muhammad… They are hard of heart, feeble of mind, and lacking in manners. They are a people of deception, deceit, wickedness, unbelief, heresy, and polytheism."
Hitler Left Some Jews Alive So the World Could See Why He Killed the Rest
"Everyone who has had contact with them and lived alongside them, in the East and in the West, has spurned them, loathed them, and detested them, to the point where Hitler said: I could kill all the Jews in the world, but I left a few alive so that the entire world will know why I killed the Jews…
"Given that these are some of the Jews' characteristics, what were the members of the Freedom Flotilla expecting from them?...
"Those people who have condemned the mujahideen's… marytrdom operations, calling them 'suicide operations,' would do well to abandon the idea of flotillas like these, which are truly suicide in the full sense of the term.
"The Jews have been laying siege to the Muslims [in Gaza] for the past four years, and the entire world did nothing [about it] – do these [ship passengers] think that their being killed by the Jews will disturb a single fly[?]...
"The oddest thing about this flotilla was the Turkish people's stance. We would have expected more from the Turkish people than what we saw. We know that most of the Arab peoples are dead, having been buried by their rulers in the coffins of poverty, desperation, humiliation, and oppression... But the Turkish people still has a shred of honor… and it still has some innate savagery.
"We would have expected [the Turks] to storm and burn down the Jewish embassies, chase down and kill all those within them, and kill every Jew in Turkey and threaten the rest of the Jews in the world with Turkish rage, in a manner reminiscent of the awe-inspiring Ottoman state. But none of this happened. Just a few hundred Turks stood in front of the Israeli Embassy chanting slogans and voicing condemnation – as though they were an Arab people, and not a Turkish one!..."
"How Does a Person Put His Life in the Hands of His Jewish Enemy When He Is Unarmed?"
"How does a person put his life in the hands of his Jewish enemy when he is unarmed? Do they expect mercy from the Jews? The Jews didn't show mercy [even] to the prophets...
"Were the Turkish government serious in its response, the least that would have been incumbent on it would have been to act against the Jews according to the principle of retribution in kind: ordering Turkish fleets to attack the ships on the high seas, kill some of their men, imprison the others, and bring the ships into Turkish territory... [But in fact] the shari'a obligation is to declare jihad for the sake of Allah, in order to liberate Palestine from the hands of the Jews and return it to the hands of the Muslims. This is the shari'a obligation that no country that claims to be Muslim can evade...
"When has freedom ever been attained without fighting? When has honor ever been available for purchase in the market of betrayal and humiliation? When has glory ever been granted [to someone] apart from on the battlefield?...
"Gaza does not need all this media coverage… Gaza needs bombs, bullets, iron, fire, missiles, tanks, mines, and missile launchers held on the shoulders of lions such as [the Arab commanders in Chechnya] Thamir Al-Suweilem ('Khattab') and Abu Al-Walid Al-Ghamdi, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi and Yahya Ayyash... It needs extraordinary leaders such as Osama bin Laden, Mullah Muhammad Omar, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, and Shamil Basayev…"
"Gaza… Is Thirsty and Wants to Drink the Blood of the Sons of Apes and Pigs"
"Gaza will not agree to a ceasefire with the Jews. On the contrary – it is thirsty and wants to drink the blood of the sons of apes and pigs, and it is hungry and longs to devour the body parts of these cowards. Proud Gaza calls to the Muslims, [saying] that it does not want people to defend it, but rather wants people to set out from it to liberate Palestine and to expel the accursed Jews.
"Gaza does not want 'freedom ships' bearing blonde women with Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and atheist men; it wants a naval fleet and a land army [bearing] black Islamic banners that are Khorasani [i.e. Afghan], Syrian, Egyptian, Maghrebi, Yemeni, Turk, and Kurdish, set east of the Jordan River with the Jews to its west, with sparks flying from the eyes of the Muslims...
"Our problem is not Gaza, but [all] Palestine. [Our problem is with] those who protect the Jews from outside its borders, and prevent the mujahideen from entering Palestine to wage jihad for the sake of Allah and to liberate our holy lands. Thus, we say to the mujahideen: Those who want to enter Palestine and fight the Jews must start first [by fighting] the border guards [i.e. the Arab regimes], so as to protect their rear – because a wise man does not leave his rear exposed to his enemy. It is not forbidden to kill the Jewish state's border guards, even if they pray and fast..."
