Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), October 14, 2010.

Following are excerpts from a Hamas Friday sermon delivered by Sheikh Ismail Aal Radhwan in Gaza, which aired on Hamas Al-Aqsa TV on September 3, 2010:

Click here for the original video clip.

“We are here today to salute the mujahideen who rocked the very pillars of the occupation, and retaliated for the crimes of the occupation, in the West Bank – in Hebron and Ramallah. Indeed, we salute and honor those modest hands that proved to all the conspirators, as well as the occupation and its helpers, that they are capable of regaining their vitality. Yes, we salute the mujahideen, who killed the Zionists, who killed the settlers.

The path to the liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine is through the gun, through Jihad, and through resistance. We say today that we adhere to the option of Jihad and resistance, the option that is ridiculed by Abbas, Fayyad, and conspirators. The path that they mock is the path decreed by Allah: ‘Fighting is ordained for you, though it is hateful to you.’

The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘There will be a hijra after the hijra, so the best on earth are those who keep to the land of the hijra of Ibrahim. Only evil people will remain in the land.’ Who are the evil people? Those who negotiate, those who hasten to normalize [relations with Israel], and those who waive [the Palestinian rights]. ‘No one will remain but the evil, and the land will spew them out.’ That is what is happening today.

The land will spew them out, the spirit of Allah will sully them, and the Hellfire will gather them, along with the apes and pigs – with the Jews, the Zionists, whom Allah transformed into apes and pigs. They will be gathered in the Hellfire along with those who were loyal to them and stood by them, and who abandoned the cause of the Islamic nation and of Palestine.

The Prophet Muhammad asked: ‘Haven’t I told you about who has the highest standing on Judgment Day?’ The people said: ‘You have told us.’ The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘The one with the highest standing on Judgment Day is the man who set out, his horse’s reins in his hands, for the sake of Allah. That is the mujahid, the martyrdom seeker, the one who wages resistance..”