‘We Would Do It Again’: Hamas Representative in Lebanon Defends October 7 Attack

Chris Menahan

Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, said last week that if Hamas could go back in time they would carry out the October 7 attack again, according to the Israeli intelligence-linked outlet MEMRI.

Hamas Representative in Lebanon Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi: If We Could Go Back in Time, We Would Carry Out October 7 All Over Again; the U.S. Was Planning to Assimilate Israel in the Region #Hamas pic.twitter.com/4xO3kf2Uud

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 18, 2024

Al-Hadi made the comments “in an interview with Annahar Newspaper (Lebanon), which was uploaded to its YouTube channel on June 14, 2024,” MEMRI added.

MEMRI has mistranslated statements for propaganda purposes in the past but I don’t see how this makes Israel look good.

From MEMRI:

Hamas representative in Lebanon Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi said that if Hamas could go back in time, it would still carry out the October 7 attack on Israel, because it would still be justified.

Interviewer: “If we could go back in time to October 7… ”

Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi: “We would do it again!”

Interviewer: “You would do it again… That was the question I was about to ask.”

Al-Hadi: “I know this is the question, because this is a central question. Why am I saying that we would do it again? Because what made us do it is very important and strategic. It is not something that we could remain silent about. We have said this time and again. The Palestinian cause was about to be eliminated. In line with the American enterprise in the region, the occupation was being assimilated into the region. By means of normalization of relations, at the expense of Palestinian rights.

“That’s not all. They saw the resistance in Gaza, and according to our information, they planned to launch a preemptive strike against it, so that it would not interfere with these plans of theirs, and in particular the plans that are connected to Gaza: the Ben Gurion canal project, the Haifa port north of Gaza, through which the India corridor is meant to pass… Could the India corridor pass through Haifa port while Hamas is in Gaza? The Ben Gurion canal was meant to pass through the middle of Gaza. And Eilat… the NEOM project is just south of Palestine, in Saudi Arabia…

“So something was about to happen, and we wanted to turn the tables on them, in order to say to them: Palestine is here to stay. So if we could go back in time, we would do it again, because the justifications still exist.”

The Palestinians were completely isolated from their Arab neighbors during the Trump-Kushner administration through everything from moving the US embassy to Jerusalem to the Abraham Accords and the annexation of the Golan Heights.

Biden administration, 4 months apart:

Jake Sullivan, Sep. 2023: “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”

Antony Blinken, Jan. 2024: “We have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we are facing now across the region since at least 1973.” pic.twitter.com/AaGXhAHXvZ

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 29, 2024

October 7 was Hamas’s “Hail Mary” play to fight back and — likely due to Israel’s wildly disproportionate response — appears to have succeeded beyond their wildest imagination.

The Arab world went from completely abandoning the Palestinians in exchange for bribes from the US to rallying behind the Palestinians and Russia and China both followed.

🇨🇳 China: October 7th Was An Exercise of International Law

China’s representative points out at the ICJ that armed resistance against occupation is enshrined in international law and is not terrorism pic.twitter.com/AJ6YQcTYdc

— S p r i n t e r F a m i l y (@SprinterFamily) May 4, 2024

Israel, on the other hand, is becoming a pariah state and has lost public support throughout the world and in America.