Documents discovered by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza that were recently made public confirm that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom had the explicit aim of destroying Israel. They record exchanges between Hamas, Hezbollah and the reactionary regime in Tehran about how to do this going back years, underscoring that what is at stake in Israel’s war to dismantle Hamas and to eliminate Tehran’s ability to acquire nuclear weapons is to prevent another Holocaust.
An analysis of the documents was published March 13 by Uri Rosset, a researcher at Sapir College in Israel, near the Gaza border. “The idea that the very existence of the State of Israel (‘the Zionist entity’) is illegal and immoral has been ingrained in Hamas’ worldview since its founding,” Rosset wrote, but “the issue of ‘the destruction of Israel’ remained a vision for the future.”
The captured documents show that in recent years, however, Hamas leaders and their allies came to see their goal “as executable and highly feasible in the near future,” and developed “practical plans and ongoing coordination between the elements of the ‘axis of resistance,’” Rosset said. This strategic shift accelerated after the round of fighting between Hamas and the Israeli government in the spring of 2021, which was provoked by Hamas missile attacks on Israeli civilians.
Hamas’ origins lie in the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood and other reactionary forces that allied with Adolf Hitler’s Nazis during World War II. Far from being a national liberation organization, Hamas sacrifices Palestinian lives by using them as human shields in its murderous assaults on Israel and by glorying in their “martyrdom.”
One of the documents is a June 5, 2021, letter from Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa sent to Esmail Qaani, commander of the Iranian regime’s Quds Force. “We are confident at end of these two years … we will uproot this distorted entity,” they wrote, referring to Israel as a “cancer.” In order to carry out this perspective, they request $500 million in additional financing from Tehran.
The same day, the Hamas leaders sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. “This imagined entity [Israel] is weaker than people think,” they said. “With your assistance … we are capable of uprooting it and removing it, in the near future.”
In June 2022, Sinwar wrote to Ismail Haniyeh, then-head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, outlining various scenarios for launching a war to obliterate the Jews in Israel. Since the 2021 ceasefire in Gaza “our jihad fighters have been preparing at a maximum speed and without hindrance. They are confident that their level of preparedness for a great strategic battle that will change the face of the region and its rules of engagement is almost complete.”
Sinwar laid out his preferred plan as a “large-scale strategic campaign” of Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Tehran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, “aiming to overthrow the occupying state, eliminate it” and “leading to the rise of the great regional Islamic revolution.”
Alternately, Sinwar suggested two other scenarios in which Hamas would “enter this battle with full force,” with more or less involvement from Hezbollah, on Israel’s northern border. This is along the lines of what was actually carried out a little over a year later with Tehran’s full backing.
The Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom was the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas death squads killed some 1,200 Jews and other residents of Israel, including whole families and young people at a music festival. They raped dozens and seized some 250 hostages, 59 of whom are still held in Gaza, though less than half are still thought to be alive.
But they came nowhere close to “eliminating” Israel, whose people responded and have dealt serious blows to Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.
Factional divisions in Israel
On March 16, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intent to fire Ronen Bar, the head of the domestic spy agency Shin Bet. Political opponents of Netanyahu called for protests, portraying this as a “power grab” and threat to “democracy.” Israel’s capitalist rulers and their parties are sharply divided, for and against the prime minister.
Since Oct. 7, evidence has emerged that top officials of Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces, many of whom oppose Netanyahu’s government, treacherously withheld intelligence about Hamas’ preparations for an assault in the months — and even hours — leading up to the pogrom. They feared Netanyahu would order a decisive response that they considered “provocative,” ensuring Israel’s response was delayed with deadly consequences.
Bar had said he planned to resign at some point, without setting a date, but in the meantime announced another “corruption” investigation into some of Netanyahu’s aides.
Meanwhile, Washington launched a round of airstrikes March 15 against the Houthis, the Tehran-backed group that controls northern Yemen and also vows to destroy Israel. President Donald Trump said the bombardment was in response to Houthi threats to resume assaults on U.S. ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Alongside airstrikes targeting Israel, the Houthis say the attacks on ships are aimed at supporting Hamas. Trump also issued further threats against Iran, while saying he wants to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear program.
Unlike the Israeli government, which is fighting for the existence of Israel, the U.S. rulers’ military actions — under Trump and his predecessor, Joseph Biden — are aimed purely at advancing their own imperialist interests. Nothing they do is aimed at advancing the interests of working people — Jews, Palestinians, or anyone else.
Israel’s fight to defeat Hamas remains unresolved, as does its need to prevent the Iranian rulers’ acquisition of nuclear weapons. Consequences of the unraveling ceasefire in Gaza underscore Netanyahu’s determination to accomplish these goals.
Steps by Israel toward those ends would not eliminate Jew-hatred, which is permanent and poisonous in the imperialist epoch. But it would create better conditions for workers and farmers of all nationalities to come together to defend their class interests. Along that road, parties can be built to lead working people to take power into their own hands, opening the door to the battle to end Jew-hatred for all time.