Hamas accuses Charlie Hebdo of deliberate incitement to violence

Hamas official calls publication of cartoons “racist act" which has "nothing to do with freedom of expression.”

Handwritten sign at Paris newstand reads 'No more Charlie' as copies of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo sell out (photo credit: REUTERS)
Handwritten sign at Paris newstand reads 'No more Charlie' as copies of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo sell out
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas officials on Wednesday condemned the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons deemed offensive to Islam and Muslims.
Last week, Hamas issued a statement condemning the terror attack that claimed the lives of journalists working at the magazine.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in response to the new cartoons published by the magazine on Wednesday that this was a “clear provocation against the feelings of Muslims worldwide.”
Barhoum accused the magazine of “solidifying the culture of hate and deliberate incitement to violence.”
He said that Hamas strongly condemns the publication of the cartoons. He claimed that a “dangerous Zionist lobby was behind a smear campaign targeting Islam and Muslims in the West.”
Another Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, also strongly condemned the publication of the new cartoons, dubbing it a “challenge to the feelings of Muslims.”
Risheq said that the publication of the cartoons constituted a “severe blow” to Arab and Muslim leaders who attended Sunday’s anti-terror rally in Paris. He said that the publication of the cartoons was a “racist act that has nothing to do with freedom of expression.”