On November 17, 2023, Palestinian sources reported that Hamas official Ahmad Bahr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.[1] Bahr, 76, was a member of Hamas’s political bureau and former deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Khaled Abu Hilal, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Freedom Movement, was separately reportedly killed in an airstrike.[2]
MEMRI TV has translated numerous clips of Bahr’s statements, including several in which he glorified waging jihad and martyrdom, praised Palestinian martyrs, and called for the annihilation of Americans and Jews “without leaving a single one.”[3]
MEMRI TV has also translated clips of Khaled Abu Hilal calling for attacks on Israeli individuals and embassies in Europe and the U.S., and praising Palestinians who seek martyrdom, including Members of Parliament, women, and children.
The following are clips of such statements made by the two slain officials from the MEMRI TV archive.
Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr At Gaza Conference On ‘Global Plots To Destroy The Muslim Family’: The UN CEDAW Agreement Is Evil, Seeks To Destroy Arab, Muslim Society – August 30, 2023
On August 30, 2023, Palestine Today TV (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) aired the Gaza Conference on “Global Plots to Destroy the Muslim Family”, at which speakers criticized the UN’s Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) agreement. Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr said that the CEDAW agreement is an “evil act” that seeks to destroy Arab and Muslim societies under the guise of slogans such as women’s liberation, social freedom, and “other tools of destruction.”
Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr: “We view CEDAW as an evil act, and as an international effort to destroy Arab and Muslim societies and the structure of the family within them, under shiny slogans about equality between men and women, the liberation of women, reclaiming women’s rights, spreading social freedom, and other tools of destruction.”
Hamas Parliament Speaker Ahmad Bahr: The Resistance Will Take The Life Of Anybody Who Tries To Disarm It, Including Trump Or Netanyahu; The Downfall Of The Deal Of The Century Will Come – January 29, 2020
Hamas Parliament Speaker Ahmad Bahr said in a January 29, 2020 address that aired on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that the Palestinian resistance has a long hand that can reach anyone who is tempted to mess with the rights and holy places of the Palestinians. He said that the downfall of the Deal of the Century, U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and all the schemes and conspiracies against the Palestinian people and cause will come and he emphasized that the resistance will take the life of anybody who tries to disarm it, including Trump or Netanyahu. He added: “[The Quran says:] ‘Fight them. Allah will punish them by your hands… Kill them wherever you may find them and drive them away from wherever they drove you away.'”
Ahmad Bahr: “The resistance has a long hand that can reach far and wide to anyone who is tempted to mess with our holy places and our rights.
[…]
“Allah willing, the downfall of the Deal of the Century will come. The downfall of the schemes and conspiracies against our people and our cause will come, as will the downfall of Trump and the downfall of Netanyahu. On behalf of our Palestinian people everywhere, we declare: Whoever tries to take away the weapons of the resistance – the resistance will take his life, even if it is Trump or Netanyahu.
“I’ll say it once again. On behalf of our Palestinian people everywhere, we declare: Whoever tries to take away the weapons of the resistance – the resistance will take his life, even if it is Trump or Netanyahu.
“[The Quran says:] ‘Fight them. Allah will punish them by your hands, and will disgrace them, and give you victory over them, and satisfy the breasts of a believing people.’ [It also says:] ‘Kill them wherever you may find them, and drive them away from wherever they drove you away. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.'”
Hamas Official Sheikh Ahmad Bahr: ‘Criminal’ Trump Is Digging His Own Grave – Scenes Of Gaza ‘Return March’ – May 13, 2018
Hamas official Sheikh Ahmad Bahr, former deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that Trump was “digging his own grave” by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Sheikh Bahr added that “the land of Palestine will explode under the feet of this criminal.” He was speaking on May 11 at one of the venues of the “return march,” in the central Gaza Strip.
Ahmad Bahr: “We say to the idiot trying to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem that he is digging his own grave. The land of Palestine will explode under the feet of this criminal.”
Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr: On Women’s Day, We Salute Jihad-Fighting Palestinian Women Like [Suicide Bomber] Rim Al-Riyashi – March 8, 2017
Hamas official Ahmad Bahr, deputy chair of the Palestinian Legislative Committee, said that while Europe celebrates the woman on International Women’s Day, its men sell their wives “like merchandise.” He went on to say: “We salute the Jihad-fighting Palestinian woman, who tends to the martyr and tends to her husband, and perhaps will become a martyr herself,” recalling Rim Al-Riyashi, who carried out a suicide attack against Israelis in 2004. Bahr’s address was broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV on March 9.
Ahmad Bahr: “The Palestinian woman is held in esteem. She is a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a grandmother. The Palestinian woman is held in esteem in Islam – in our religion, our moral values, and our faith. Every year, on March 8, the world celebrates International Woman’s Day, a holiday invented by Europe. Let me say, in a nutshell, that Europe celebrates the woman, but at the same time, it kills women. It celebrates the woman, but as you know, the [European] man sells his wife in front of the whole world, as if she is merchandise to be bought and sold.
“In the West, where they are celebrating the woman today, they want to present women naked in halls and stores, in order to attract customers. In Islam, in contrast, the woman is respected. As the Prophet Muhammad said, women are the sisters of men.
“Therefore, on Women’s Day, we salute the Jihad-fighting Palestinian woman, who tends to the martyr and tends to her husband, and perhaps will become a martyr for the sake of Allah herself, like the Jihad-fighting sister (suicide bomber) Rim al-Riyashi, who sacrificed herself for the sake of Palestine. The woman, who is being honored today, serves, makes sacrifices, and maintains her ribat for the sake of Allah.”
Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr Preaches For The Annihilation Of Jews And Americans – August 10, 2012
Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Deputy Speaker of the Hamas Parliament Ahmad Bahr, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on Aug 10, 2012.