These are not the actions, or the words, of a people seeking peace

Ira Chernus’ guest opinion in the Times-call on Jan. 29 (“Israel has rebuffed Hamas’ attempts at peace”) includes some inaccurate information regarding the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Chernus states that Hamas has “expressed a willingness to demilitarize in Gaza.” But according to the Jerusalem Post, although some of the political leaders of Hamas residing in Qatar have expressed their willingness to demilitarize Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks, has not expressed a willingness to do so. What Sinwar has communicated is that he believes that Hamas has already been victorious in the conflict (https:// www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-783075).

Chernus does correctly point out that there is a narrative in the U.S. media that Hamas wants to destroy Israel. He suggests however that this narrative is a misconception of Hamas’ true intent and is based on misunderstanding the charter of Hamas. Chernus states that Hamas’ charter is similar to a political platform that leaders, once in office, feel free to ignore. He says that we shouldn’t take Hamas’ charter seriously given its ambiguities.

The 2017 charter of the Hamas (https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ hamas-2017-document-full), a modification of its 1988 charter, is not ambiguous when it comes to the land of Israel. The charter of the Hamas states unequivocally that all of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is an “Arab Islamic land” (Articles 2 and 3). The Hamas’ charter also states that the establishment of Israel as a nation is illegal (Article 18), and that there shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the “Zionist entity” (Article 19).

The Hamas’ charter “rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea” (Article 20). Its charter also rejects all agreements that undermine its cause (Article 22), states that resistance by any means is not only appropriate but a duty (Articles 24-26), and that “there is no alternative to a fully sovereign Palestinian State on the entire national Palestinian soil” (Article 27).

Far from being a mere political platform, it seems that the charter of the Hamas is a clear and unambiguous declaration of its intent and its objectives. Some might call it a declaration of war by Hamas against those it thinks are keeping it from taking possession of all of Israel, a land that in its own words is “from the river to the sea.”

If there remains any doubt about Hamas’ true intentions or how it interprets its own charter, one need only to look at its actions. In addition to shooting thousands of rockets into Israel since it took over Gaza in 2007, Hamas massacred more than 1,200 on Oct. 7. This included the indiscriminate shooting of 360 attending a concert, the torching of people trapped in homes and cars, the slaying of children, and taking captive those it thought it could use as bargaining chips. According to the New York Times, the atrocities committed by Hamas also included the rape and mutilation of dozens of women (https://www. timesofisrael.com/in-harrowing-detailnyt-shows-weaponization-of-rape-sexualviolence-during-oct-7/).

These are not the actions, or the words, of a people seeking peace.