Steven Emerson Hamas , the PLO , and Terrorist Attacks Against Israel

Last December, Hamas held its annual rally in a Gaza stadium. More than 70,000 people— an overflow audience—attended. As Hamas leaders took the podium one after another, making incendiary speeches against the peace accords and calling for jihad against the Jews, the fervor of the crowd mounted. Cries of “Allahu Akbar! [God is great]” and “Mawt lil-Yahud! [Death to the Jews]” greeted the speakers’ chants. But the most meaningful moment of the rally was neither a chant nor a cry. It was a silent procession of a few dozen young men dressed in white shrouds. They looked like ghosts set against the huge crowd. They were future suicide bombers who had vowed to end their lives in a larger effort to kill as many Jews as possible.