Lebanese TV host Tony Khalife Clashes With 'Resistance' Scholar Maher Hamoud: Why Have We Seen Your Fighters In Syria, Iraq, Yemen, But Not In Gaza? Hamoud: All These Wars Are For The Sake Of Palestine

Lebanese Sunni scholar Sheikh Maher Hamoud, Secretary-General of the Union of Resistance Ulama said that the wars in Syria and Yemen are fought on behalf of Gaza and Palestine. He made his remarks in an interview aired on Beirut International Radio (Lebanon) on March 5, 2021, in response to a question by Lebanese TV host Tony Khalife, who asked why the fighters who go to these places do not go to fight in Gaza. Hamoud said that war in Syria was waged for the sake of Gaza and that Syria hosted Hamas for 15 years and gave it many benefits such as a security detail for Khaled Mash'al, exemption from paying customs on cars, and so on. He added that without the Houthi slogan: "Death to Israel, curse upon the Jews," there would be no war in Yemen. For more about Sheikh Maher Hamoud, see MEMRI TV clips Nos. 4836, 1970, and 1808.

Maher Hamoud: "The people of Gaza are the real Muslims today. Most of the people of Palestine, Hizbullah in Lebanon..."

Tony Khalife: "What have you done for the people of Gaza and Palestine? Who sent weapons to Gaza? Excuse me, but people who fought in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, the people who went to fight in all those countries - why haven't we seen them fighting in Gaza?"

Hamoud: "Listen, did you bring me here to hear what I have to say or to lecture me?"

Khalife: "But you should also hear me. I'm asking you a question."

Hamoud: "Listen..."

Khalife: "Go ahead."

Hamoud: "The war in Syria is all for Gaza. Syria has been hosting the resistance of Hamas for 15 years. Khaled Mashal had the same security detail as Bashar Al-Assad. The lands that were given to Hamas so it can train and shoot guns was larger than the territory of Lebanon. Hamas was allowed to import cars without paying customs. Hamas's guests were not required to pass through the Syrian security agency."

Khalife: "My question was clear. Do not try to drag me in other directions. We saw fighters and people sacrificing their lives on Syrian, Iraqi, and Yemeni lands, but we have not seen the same kind of fighting on Palestinian lands. Why?"

Hamoud: "They are all connected to each other. Had the Yemenis not raised the slogan 'Death to Isreal, curse upon the Jews,' there would have been no war. Had Syria signed peace with America..."

Khalife: "You still haven't answered my question."

Hamoud: "The war in Syria is for the sake of Palestine. The war in Yemen is for the sake of Palestine."

Khalife: "You still haven't answered my question. Why have we not seen [your] fighters in the Palestinian lands, fighting the Israeli enemy alongside the Palestinians, like we saw them in Syria."

Hamoud: "Who says Palestine is in need of fighters?"

Khalife: "So Syria needs them, Iraq needs them, and Yemen needs them, but besieged Palestine, where they fight with stones, does not need fighters, just because it does not suit your strategy."