Maulana Arshad Madani said Israelis have been “shedding the blood of helpless people for the past several decades” but the world has not called them “terrorists”.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Hamas fighters cannot be called terrorists because “they are fighting for the freedom of their country,” Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) president Maulana Arshad Madani said in a statement issued here on Sunday.
“Those who fight for the freedom of their country are called freedom fighters and not terrorists…. The world knows that Israel is an usurper and has illegally occupied the territories of Palestine by force, for the freedom of which, the people of Palestine have been struggling for a long time,” he said voicing his support for Hamas in the ongoing Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza.
Ever since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on 7 October, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has been vocal in supporting Palestine. In a post on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) on 17 October, Madani wrote, “JUH has been a supporter of every struggle for the protection of Jerusalem, Palestine, and Gaza from day one, and it still stands with Palestine today. Israel is an usurper country that has usurped the land of Palestine with the support of some world powers.”
In Sunday’s statement, Madani lauded the “courage and bravery” shown by Hamas and how they have risked their lives. “The courage and bravery they showed in the last few days, even entering the house and killing the powerful usurper by attacking them, was an extraordinary act. Although they put their lives at risk by doing this, they probably think that without such sacrifices, the country cannot be freed from the clutches of usurpers,” the statement read.
Maulana Madani further said that a terrorist is someone who spreads terror everywhere, but here the case is “totally different”. “Rather, all their activities are limited to Palestine, its resources are limited, even sometimes they do not have food items, but despite this, they are constantly active for the freedom of their country,” the statement read.
Citing the case of the Taliban, he said they were also called “terrorists”. “But now that they have come to power in Afghanistan, this opinion has changed, no one calls them terrorists anymore”.
Madani claimed it’s not right to call Hamas a “terrorist” organisation just because they are “Muslims who are fighting for the freedom of their country”. He said Israelis have been “shedding the blood of helpless people for the past several decades” but the world has not called them “terrorists”.
