Hamas: Flying swastikas during protests is ‘exploited’ by Israel

The Hamas call to its people did not condemn what the swastika represents.

By World Israel News Staff 

Hamas issued a statement on Friday in which it said that flying the swastika by Palestinian protesters “is condemned and rejected.”

The statement by Dr. Basem Naim, member of the Hamas International Relations Office, said that flying the swastika should be stopped “even if it is done by one person and does not represent the common sense of the Palestinian people. We have to stop similar acts because our conflict with the Israeli occupation is a freedom struggle against the colonial occupier of Palestine.”

The terror group said “such acts… are exploited by the Israeli occupation to distort our struggle for freedom and independence.”

The Hamas call to its people did not condemn what the swastika represents.

The terror group’s statement was issued after the Israeli military published a photo showing Palestinian flags and the symbol of a swastika next to the Gazan-Israeli border at the weekly Palestinian protest this past Friday.

“The Nazi swastika flag: a symbol of murder and sheer hatred raised yet again at a Hamas riot inside Gaza. In the face of this hatred, IDF soldiers stand alert and determined, ready to defend lsrael today and every single day,” said the IDF statement accompanying the photo.

The weekly Palestinian demonstrations, which regularly turn violent, are part of the “Great March of Return” which Hamas launched in March 2018 on the grounds that it was a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the transfer of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.