Arab Social Media Users Criticize Hamas Large-Scale Attack: Defacing Corpses, Raping Girls, Abducting Elderly Women Are All Against Islam

Arab social media users are harshly criticizing the brutality and inhuman actions of the Hamas operatives who invaded Israel's territory as part of what Hamas calls Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (also translated as Al-Aqsa Storm). The users expressed shock at graphic footage that has been disseminated on social media showing Hamas operatives stripping young Israeli women, defacing the bodies of IDF soldiers and murdering and abducting women, infants, children and elderly people. The users, from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Egypt, roundly condemned Hamas, stating that its actions go against Islam, morality and humanity.

Hamas militants celebrate capture of Israeli tank (Source: Felesteen.news, October 8, 2023)

This report presents some of these responses.

Murdering A Woman And Defacing Her Corpse – A Shameful Act That Has Nothing To Do With Liberating Palestine, Manliness, Or Jihad

Kuwaiti Liberal Jasem Al-Juraid shared a clip on his account on X (formerly Twitter) showing Hamas fighters driving a Jeep with the body of a young Israeli woman, almost completely naked, and shouting "Allah Akbar." He wrote: "They murdered an Israeli woman, stripped her, crushed her corpse, and drove her around [in their Jeep] as a show of victory... But a victory of what?! Are these the principles of Islam?! Is this what the call 'Allah Akbar' is for?! Are these cowards only able [to overpower] women and helpless innocents?! Where are the stands from those who trade in the [Islamic] religion and from the Arab leaders?! What was this woman's crime, other than loving her country?"[1]

Saudi researcher Kassab Al-Otaibi, a former oppositionist who reconciled with the regime and now lives in Saudi Arabia, shared the same video on his X account and came out against the abuse of the young Israeli woman, arguing that Hamas's attack aims to foil recent Saudi efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue and hinting this was done on Iran's orders. He wrote: "Saudi Arabia makes great efforts to [bring about] the establishment of a Palestinian state... As soon as the Palestinians' hope to establish their own country was near [fruition], Hamas received orders and instructions from certain countries to perform its well-known act [i.e., attack Israel] carried out by scoundrels who [also] raped the [Israeli] women and abused them, in a display seen by the whole world. I have no doubt that their show was not intended to free Palestine, and that the main goal was to undo Saudi Arabia's incredible efforts, so that they fail and so it [Saudi Arabia] will not go down in history for achieving what everyone else would consider to be a miracle. [Hamas also did this] to leave the [Palestinian] issue[2] hanging and unresolved to manifest the goals of countries in the region... This clip has distorted the [image of the Palestinian] cause. Calls of 'Allah Akbar' over the body of a woman, after she was stripped and raped by criminal scoundrels, is a shameful act that has nothing to do with liberating [Palestine], manliness or jihad! The question is, what will happen now? Israel will kill thousands of innocent Palestinians and will destroy infrastructure [in the Gaza Strip], and then Hamas, its scoundrels and mercenaries, will cry: 'Oh Arabs, where are you? Saudi Arabia is betraying [us], you are normalizing [relations with Israel], we want support, we want money! We want and want."[3]

"Abusing The Corpse Of A Woman Is Not Part Of Muslims' Morality, Even When It Comes To Your Enemy"

Saudi X user Abed Al-Karim Al-Awwad also shared the video, writing: "What have the herds of armed Palestinian factions gained from this act other than the international community's solidarity with Israel, giving it a green light to demolish the Gaza Strip over the heads of its residents[?] When the predictable Israeli response begins, these rats will hide in their holes, and we will see only innocent women and children dealing with the death and destruction. This [Hamas] attack will not be met with silence. Abusing a woman's corpse is not [part] of Muslims' morality, even when it comes to your enemy..."[4]

"An Unislamic And Inhuman Act" That Serves The Enemies Of Islam

Saudi X user Mansour Al-Malik wrote about the clip in a similar tone: "Stripping a female Israeli soldier down to her undergarments in this way is unislamic and inhuman. This video [with its] shouts of' Allah Akbar' will spread all over the world. This is the greatest gift we could give to the enemies of Islam and Muslims."[5]

Saudi researcher and author Turki Al-Raj'an also responded to the clip of defacing the young woman's corpse, writing: "Is this the humanity of the religion[?]! This absolutely is not the humanity of the religion. How great is the difference between you and the Prophet Muhammad's decree about war [saying:] 'Do not cut down trees, do not kill woman, or child, or infant, or the elderly sheikh, or the infirm, do not defile bodies, do not kill excessively, do not destroy a place of worship, do not demolish a populated building, and even the camels and cattle shall be slaughtered only to be eaten."[6]

Abducting An Elderly Woman And Defacing Corpses – Not Part Of Islamic Morality Or The Ethics Of War

Abd Al-Hak Al-Snaibi, a Moroccan researcher and security and strategy expert, wrote on his X account: "I don't understand what message Hamas is trying to convey by arresting an elderly woman, holding her [captive], and harassing her?? I also do not understand how they deface the body of a dead soldier. Is this part of Islam?? I don't understand how it is possible for a Muslim to toy with the body of a naked young woman, abusing her before the eyes of the world?? I do not believe this is part of Islam's morality or the ethics of war..."[7]

In another post that day, he wrote: "The Palestinian cause is a just cause... The question is whether what happened in fact serves the Palestinian cause?? Does defiling corpses and kidnapping old ladies serve the cause?? Was the decision to escalate a purely Palestinian decision, or was it done on the orders [of external actors] with the aim of embarrassing the countries who chose the path of normalization [with Israel]... [I say] yes to establishing a Palestinian State on the 67 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, but I believe the means [employed by the Palestinians] are wrong..."[8]

Killing The Israeli Hostages Held By Hamas Would Be A Crime

On October 9, responding to the threat delivered by Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida, that Hamas would kill a civilian hostage any time Israel targeted Gaza civilians without warning, Saudi journalist Sukina Al-Meshekhis wrote, “The killing of Israeli hostages is a crime which has no connection to religion, humanity or morality. Just as we are opposed to the bombing of Palestinian citizens by Israel, we must oppose the killing of the hostages.”[9]

What Kind Of Heroism Is It To Murder Infants And Old People And Rape Women?

Egyptian author Dalia Ziada, the director of MEEM, a Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean research institute, wrote: “What kind of heroism is it to attack infants and elderly people and to kill them on a holiday?! Not to mention stripping and raping women. Does this have any connection to Islam? Does this have any connection to heroism and manliness?! Hamas [members] have perpetrated a loathsome act of terror and have not liberated anything. On the contrary, they have written their own ending with their own hands.”[10]

Hamas Operatives – Savages And Criminal Thugs

Egyptian artist and filmmaker Sherif Gaber wrote, “Today the Hamas organization launched hundreds of rockets at Israel with no advance warning and killed dozens of people.[11] It broke through some of the barriers on the border, and hundreds of Palestinians entered and flooded Israel's roads in an anarchistic manner. All the footage [documenting the events] can be described in one word: savages. A group of savages led by children… who are prepared to die at any moment in the name of liberating Palestine and have nothing to lose… The herd of young Arabs who follow them online know nothing at all about the [Palestinian] cause and its roots…

“The sight that we see today is one of criminal thugs. Watch the videos closely. Most of them show kidnapped women being thrown into cars full of armed Hamas thugs. Needless to say, they are ‘prisoners [of war],’ so [according to these Hamas militants] they can be shared among them. Other videos show the bodies of naked young Israeli women in SUVs, straddled by thugs shouting ‘Allah akbar.’ These are children with no goal other than blood. Only blood makes them happy. What is the result? Israel, naturally, will respond by firing missiles all over Palestine and kill hundreds of innocent people sitting peacefully in their homes, and we will enter a cycle of killing that will continue for months and maybe years and will claim victims from both sides, all those who wanted to live without war…”[12]

Egyptian liberal and author Amr Bakly wrote on his X account, “As part of its actions [during this attack] Hamas murdered 250 people who attended a music festival, including foreigners, and took hostages from among the survivors. If this is not terrorism, what is?! When you continue to view this as ‘resistance,’ what are you, if not a supporter of terrorism?! Not only do you support terrorism but you are also vile!”[13]