The “Al-Aqsa Flood”

On September 29, 2025, the White House submitted a plan for peace within the Gaza Strip that was signed by both the state of Israel, and the terrorist group Hamas.

The very first clause of this is that: “Gaza will be a deradicalized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” Included in the 20-point plan, allegedly agreed to by Israel and Hamas is that “Within 72 hours, all hostages, alive and deceased will be returned to Israel.”

Yet another clause states “Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”

Of course, we all know that the body of one hostage, Ran Gvili, butchered on October 7^th, still awaits return and a proper burial in Israel.  And Hamas has repeatedly and clearly elucidated over and over again that it will never relinquish its weapons.

A document had been found this past Wednesday, entitled “Our Narrative…Al Aqsa Flood: Two Years of Steadfastness and the Will for Liberation”, authored by the Hamas Media Office.

Without a question, the document is replete with total distortions, historical revisionisms, legal and moral inversions and gross misrepresentations. These misrepresentations serve to justify ongoing violence and perpetuate a narrative that undermines the prospects for genuine reconciliation. The document attempts to recast well-documented events in a manner that aligns with Hamas’ radical ideology, ignoring the complex realities on the ground and the legitimate security concerns faced by Israel and its citizens.

Hamas opens their 42-page manifesto by announcing that “Israel is a Settler- Colonial, Genocidal Entity”. To begin with, Israel has never been a colonial project. Since the fall of Judea, the settler-colonialists have not been the indigenous Jews to their homeland, but the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Ottomans and the British.

Returning to one’s homeland does not constitute colonialist occupation.  The modern Zionist project is not an imperial project behind which colonial powers stood. It is the rightful claim of the Jewish people to their homeland as the 1947 UN Partition Plan stated (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181). The fact is that as meager the map that was then drawn for the Jewish homeland, the Jewish people accepted it, and the Arab states overwhelmingly rejected it.

The Hamas document describes Israel as “genocidal”. Genocide specifically entails “the commitment with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

As opposed to the events of October 7^th, 2023, when Hamas attempted to devastate the entire Jewish homeland, and had plans to conquer Tel  Aviv, the IDF has taken several pains not to destroy the entire Palestinian entity within the Gaza Strip.

This includes phoning, texting, dropping leaflets, urging evacuation to safe areas, “roof knocking” (a procedure involving a non-lethal munition warning occupants to vacate their building), and specified evacuation sites, zones and humanitarian corridors.

The report opens with a gross misrepresentation of the historical record, saying that “The October 7^th flood was a legitimate military target”. The wholesale, barbaric slaughter, rape, burning, torture, endless confinement in the terror tunnels of Gaza of civilians does not constitute “a legitimate military target” but the premeditated targeting of noncombatants.

The report also states that Israel specifically “targets hospitals, schools and journalists.” We have known since before October 7^th that Hamas deceptively embeds its terrorist and military infrastructure in places where one would suspect the most innocent of civilians to gather, such as hospitals, schools, mosques and UN facilities. Many of the journalists that have been killed knowingly placed themselves in active combat zones, and much of them had later been identified as members of Hama or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, (PIJ) Furthermore, many members of Hamas and PIJ do not necessarily wear uniforms specifically spelled out in the Geneva convention and the Rome statutes, blurring the lines between civilians and enemy combatants.

Another absurd claim is made ad nauseum that “Israel practices apartheid”.  This systemically overlooks the fact that government members of the Knesset, Supreme Court judges, doctors, military officers and diplomats are Arab. All of the security measures implemented by the IDF and National Security Servces are not based on race or religion, but on the nature of the security threat.

This rhetoric confuses the aggressor on October 7^th with the victim. It  denies the inherent right of self-defense as recognized in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

It is also essential to recognize that attempts to equate Israel’s security policies with systematic discrimination ignore the region’s broader context and the ongoing threats posed by militant groups. Such comparisons diminish the lived realities of both Israelis and Palestinians, reducing a complex conflict to simplistic narratives. By distorting the facts, the Hamas document not only misleads its audience but also obstructs constructive dialogue and mutual understanding that are crucial for any future peace initiatives.

This document not only  entirely distorts the truth but also fuels ongoing hostilities by framing acts of terror as justified responses. Such narratives hinder efforts toward peace and mutual recognition, further entrenching division and mistrust on both sides. It is essential to challenge these fabrications with factual historical context and a commitment to honest dialogue.

Sarah N. Stern is Founder and President of EMET, a think tank and policy center in Washington, DC, that specializes in the Middle East.