This gesture is reminiscent of Mehmet the Conquerer ordering the shehada, the Islamic confession of faith, to be proclaimed in the great Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople after the Muslim conquest of 1453. Note also the avowals that jihad — violent jihad — has brought them victory. “Hamas leader prays in Gaza synagogue,” from YnetNews, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
Hours after thousands of Palestinians desecrated synagogues in Gaza, setting them on fire and taking buildings apart by hand, members of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, headed by senior Hamas chief Mahmoud Zahar, arrived at the synagogue in Kfar Darom and held a Muslim prayer session at the site.
Ahmad Jabari, another senior figure in Hamas, said that Hamas would continue to attack Israel. “The withdrawal proves that the resistance is the only legitimate weapon. We will strike at any hand that reaches for our weapons,” said Jabari.
‘Jihad the only way’
“The jihad and the resistance are the only ways to liberate our homeland, not negotiations and agreements,” said Jabari. The Hamas leader ruled out the possibility that Hamas members would join Palestinian security forces, saying, “we will never be part of that corrupt Authority,” before waving his gun.
Earlier, thousands of Palestinian burst into abandoned Israeli settlements in Gaza Monday morning, where they burned a synagogue and took away pieces of the rubble. They Palestinian Authority later bulldozed the synagogue.
Palestinian security forces stood on the side and did not act to restrain the crowds, and failed to prevent the chaotic scenes.
In Kfar Darom, dozens of gunmen from the Popular Front wandered around unchallenged by Palestinian Authority security forces, who sat underneath trees in silence.