The Jews Claimed to Be Oppressed (1–2)

The Jews claimed to be oppressed, that they were tortured and wronged, that Hitler annihilated their green fields and killed their sons. Then (mercy!) was stirred in the hearts of the mighty nations of the earth, who sought to find them a home. And what did they find? Nothing but our land. They forced us out of our homes, made us hand over the blessings of our land, and then came the minister of the so-called "civilized," those who wear gazelle skins over the bodies of wolves, granting them a promise to turn the heart of our land into their shelter—offering what he did not own, to those who did not deserve what they were given. And thus unfolded the scandal of human history—one never seen in the present nor in the past.

And today, they call us to peace, to abandon war. They say: "Isn't peace better for you? Why spill blood? Why take lives?"

But the peace they call for is like the peace between a thief who broke into your home, killed some of your family, and took part of your house—then when you try to throw him out, he cries: "Look at this terrorist!"

Then they called for a global war on terror. ⁽¹⁾

We rose to defend our land—and that is our right. Who remains silent while their land is occupied? Would America or England accept it if an enemy seized a piece of land near Washington or London, killed and looted, committed heinous crimes, then said: "Why fight? Let's talk it out."

In 1948, we were fighting and glimpsed signs of victory. But they forced a truce upon us—one that paralyzed our hands and empowered our enemy. At that time, we lacked strength and experience. We were deceived, and we believed them. The Jews struck with a coward's blow, and when a coward gains the upper hand, he throws everything into a single strike. He hits in the darkness of night—it's either his salvation or his doom.

But the night has now passed. The heedless have awoken, the young have grown strong. Do you see those saplings planted along the sides of roads? They are weak at first, supported by iron cages—those cages act as both support and shackle. But when the trunk thickens and strengthens, it casts away the cage or bends around it and encloses it.

We are now like that tree with a strong trunk. We were once like the tender branch that needed something to prop it up.

Matters have begun to return to their rightful state. The fog has lifted slightly, and people have started to see things as they truly are. It was the Ramadan War—October War, or Tishreen—that peeled the veil. “Israel” shrank in their eyes after that war and shrank even more with this blessed Intifada. It was like a balloon children play with—then a hole was pricked in it, and some of the air escaped.

“Israel” started to be exposed. Its truth revealed. Even its radio became a joke—no one believes it anymore. Its propaganda that once frightened people became useless. It failed even against Bruno Kreisky, Austria’s chancellor—a Jew who had converted to Christianity. “Israel” unleashed its media swords against him, rallied its supporters and protectors, and exerted all its pressure—even Nixon himself intervened, and the ill-fated old woman Golda Meir went personally to reopen the “Evil Corridor” at Schönau, through which eighty thousand passed to “Israel,” many of them intellectuals, artists, or technicians meant to become soldiers for “Israel” in our war.

But “Israel” returned with its media, its protectors, and its prime minister in disgrace and humiliation—and that was during the Ramadan War.

“Israel” wept and complained that we attacked them on Yom Kippur, their Day of Atonement, and didn’t respect their “sacred” day. But I ask: who told “Israel” that it had secured forgiveness or could designate a day for it?

“Israel” lied. Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him. And “Israel” (meaning its people—not the prophet of Allah, Yaqub عليه السلام) committed shirk when it said: “‘Uzayr is the son of Allah.” Exalted is Allah above having a son or equal! How could Allah forgive those who killed the prophets, belied them, slandered them, and committed every crime in the book?

Forget your “Day of Atonement.” The fire awaits you—in this world, through our hands by the will of Allah, and in the Hereafter, which is even more severe.

As for the “sacred,” how shameless is “Israel”! Did it ever respect anyone’s sanctity to begin with, that it now demands respect for its own—which has no sanctity at all?

Didn’t it burn Al-Aqsa Mosque? Didn’t it try to shake its foundations and rock its pillars hoping it would collapse? Didn’t they dig beside its wall—descending into the earth hoping to reach its base, seeking a trace of Solomon’s temple? Their digging has gone over fifteen meters deep! Even a five-meter dig beside a fortress would cause its wall to lean and crumble.

Didn’t they desecrate and damage the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sacred to Christians? They stole from the church as they burned the mosque.

Thieves and saboteurs—yet they cry and complain that we attacked them on their feast day, while they left no Eid for the people of Palestine to celebrate. These criminals turned their celebrations into our tragedies.

Did “Israel” show mercy to the sick? Didn’t it bomb hospitals, kill patients, doctors, and nurses?

Did it protect childhood—before demanding others protect its children?

Haven’t I told you twenty times—so often you grew tired of hearing it—that “Israel” is not what you think? It is a hyena, feeding on corpses. It found a lion’s skin or was gifted one, so it wore it. Then it played a recording of a lion’s roar—and people thought it was a lion. Then it imitated Ash'ab and started to believe its own lies.

People thought “Israel’s” intelligence was the strongest on earth, capable of tracking our every move. Some among us (and I seek Allah’s forgiveness) thought it even knew what was hidden in our hearts. But behold! It was taken by surprise during the Ramadan War. Its intelligence didn’t feel a thing—not even a whiff of warning.

May Allah bless those leaders who learned from the 1967 defeat the virtue of secrecy—learned it from the life of Muhammad ﷺ. The Prophet managed, during the Conquest, to conceal the movement of a ten-thousand-strong army—an enormous army in the Arabian Peninsula of that time—yet no news reached Quraysh.

The Battle of Badr ended in defeat. Yet the steadfastness of the Prophet ﷺ and his noble companions turned defeat into victory. This is to teach you: wars come in turns. Time revolves. Life alternates—day and night, valleys and peaks. But what matters is the end. And the end—if Allah wills—is for us, for Islam. As long as we are with it, victory is ours.

What we did in Ramadan is astonishing. Imagine climbing a twenty-meter-tall sand hill—not prepared or paved. That alone is exhausting. Now imagine being pelted with stones as you climb. Then imagine the stones are bullets and gunpowder. Then imagine this sand covers fortresses of solid rock and concrete, with cannons and tanks and the deadliest explosives. How did Egyptian soldiers storm such defenses? The strongest, most advanced defensive line—built at a cost of 283 million dollars—was breached using the simplest, weakest offensive tool: a three-dollar wooden ladder. How was this miracle achieved?

With faith—along with what faith demands from reason and religion: plans, weapons, secrecy. All are essential. But they are like the body’s limbs—faith is the soul. In 1967, we had all the limbs, but no soul. Now the soul has returned.

It was an extraordinary descent—perhaps only matched by the Allies landing at Normandy in the last war. Or maybe greater. I believe Egypt’s crossing on October 6, 1973, to the other bank of the Canal will be etched into the history of military strategy—taught in war colleges.

The world was astonished by what our soldiers did in Sinai and the Golan. But they should have been astonished by our defeat in 1948 and 1967—not our victory in Ramadan. Surprise lies in the unnatural. The son of Hatim al-Tai doesn’t surprise anyone with generosity—it’s in his blood. “He who resembles his father has done no wrong.” But it would be surprising if the son of Hatim turned stingy.

Are you surprised by my sickness? My health is what’s surprising!

What is surprising is the triumph of the Jews—those upon whom humiliation and misery were placed—not the victory of the children of those who conquered East and West, who were the masters and teachers of the world.

In truth, we were not defeated in 1948 and 1967. The Jews did not triumph. What triumphed within us were Jewish traits that crept in while we were heedless: division, hesitation, lack of secrecy, random planning, and listening to the advice of enemies.

“Israel” shrank even more when this Intifada began—children fighting with stones against an army equipped with the fiercest tools of death and destruction Satan ever inspired in his allies. They thought it was a mere burst of enthusiasm that would die in hours or days—but it persisted. Month after month, the Intifada grew stronger.

Because it is not a nationalist or ethnic uprising, nor merely to reclaim land or expel invaders. These are goals that many nations might share. No—it is jihad. Jihad in the sense known to Islam: sacrificing the soul for Allah alone, seeking His reward alone.

In this jihad, he who wins achieves his hopes and fulfills his goals. And he who dies attains something greater than all the pleasures of this world: Allah’s pleasure and Paradise.

Allah has decreed that this Intifada shall continue and grow stronger—just as He decreed strength and endurance for the jihad in Afghanistan. Because both were for Allah, not for this world. And what is done for Allah—that is what lasts.

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(1) We hear every day about a Palestinian being arrested on the charge of "resisting the occupation" — but since when did it become a crime to resist a criminal thief who came to occupy your home?

Source: From the book "Our Story with the Jews"

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