In a globally-reported PR exercise this week, Hamas launched a so-called “new charter” which claims the Gaza-based terror organisation accepts a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, no longer “wages a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish”, and is now independent from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
In response, many Western media organisations reported that the statement shows Hamas is evolving into a more “moderate” organisation.
However, by its own admission, Hamas’s founding charter — which calls on Muslims to kill all Jews and for the “obliteration” of Israel — has not been replaced by the new document and is still in effect.
This was omitted by several major news organisations, including the BBC. A report on Radio 4’s Today programme said: “Hamas has adopted a more moderate position on several key policy areas… it says its hostility to Israel is not the result of antisemitism.”
