JERUSALEM — The Arab world is divided as to whether the war crimes carried out by Hamas — including decapitating babies, raping girls and abducting elderly women — should be condemned by practicing Muslims.

Arabic-speaking social media users from Saudi Arabia, across the Persian Gulf and in countries in North Africa such as Egypt expressed shock at graphic footage shot on Saturday of terrorists breaching the border fence into southern Israel from from the Gaza Strip and committing a massacre that led to the deaths of over 1,300 civilians.

Hamas left a trail of dead and mutilated bodies of civilians and Israel Defense Force soldiers. In addition, the terrorist organization took civilian Israelis — including women and children — hostage.

READ: Africa’s Religious And Political Leaders Divided Over Ongoing Israel-Hamas War

Many Muslim believers roundly condemned Hamas, stating that the actions during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm are not supported by Islam.

A report issued on Oct. 10 by the Jerusalem-based Middle East Media Research Institute collated numerous social media comments questioning whether murdering a woman and defacing her corpse merits being praised as jihad or is a shameful act unrelated to the struggle to liberate Palestine.

Despite their many differences, Jews, Christians and Muslims share a fundamental belief in God as compassionate and just. While the Prophet Muhammad was said to have practiced nonviolence early in his life, he later came to believe that God commanded the use of force in an effort to expand the territory of Islam. While peace is an important aspect of Islam, most Muslim-majority countries — including Iraq, Syria and Pakistan — are products of complex political and social circumstances.

The modern version of jihad — which means “struggle” but is most often associated with the concept of holy war — has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, stemming from ideological developments of Islamic revivalism, an intolerant strain that further developed into Qutbism. In fact, most Muslims in the United States and in many parts of the world were appalled by the perversion of Islam that al-Qaida used to justify the 9/11 attacks.

Qutbism refers to the beliefs and ideology of Sayyid Qutb, a leading Islamist revolutionary of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. The belief — influenced by the doctrines of earlier Islamists — advocates armed jihad to establish Islamic rule.

In the wake of 9/11, the threat of militant Islamic terrorism took center stage. While these violent religious extremists represent a minority view, their threat was nonetheless real. In 1980, for example, two out of 64 groups were categorized as largely religious in motivation. By 1995, almost half of the groups — 26 out of 56 — were classified as religiously motivated and utilized Islam as their guiding force.

Show of support

Jasem al-Juraid, who lives in Kuwait, shared a clip on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, showing Hamas fighters driving a Jeep with the body of a young Israeli woman and shouting “Allah Akbar!” (Arabic for “God is great!”).

“They murdered an Israeli woman, stripped her, crushed her corpse and drove her around as a show of victory. … But a victory of what?! Are these the principles of Islam?! Is this what the call ‘Allah Akbar’ is for?! Are these cowards only able (to overpower) women and helpless innocents?! Where are the stands from those who trade in the religion and from the Arab leaders?! What was this woman's crime, other than loving her country?” he wrote.

Religion Unplugged has chosen not to embed the social media posts or link to them because most are graphic in nature.

Saudi researcher Kassab al-Otaibi, a former oppositionist who reconciled with the Riyadh regime and now lives in Saudi Arabia, shared the same video of the brutalized Israeli woman on his X account — coming out against the abuse of the young Israeli woman and arguing the attack carried out by Hamas hurts the case for a free Palestine.

"Saudi Arabia makes great efforts to (bring about) the establishment of a Palestinian state,” al-Otaibi wrote. “As soon as the Palestinians’ hope to establish their own country was near, Hamas received orders and instructions from certain countries to perform its well-known act (i.e., attack Israel) carried out by scoundrels who raped the women and abused them, in a display seen by the whole world. I have no doubt that their show was not intended to free Palestine, and that the main goal was to undo Saudi Arabia's incredible efforts, so that they fail and so it (Saudi Arabia) will not go down in history for achieving what everyone else would consider to be a miracle.”

Prior to this week’s attack, Israel and Saudi Arabia were working on a détente in a newly evolving willingness in the region to embrace ecumenicalism as a bridge between erstwhile enemies.

In his post, al-Otaibi said Hamas have left the Palestinian “issue hanging and unresolved to manifest the goals of countries in the region.”

Another Saudi X user, Abed al-Karim al-Awwad, shared the same video, writing: “What have the herds of armed Palestinian factions gained from this act other than the international community's solidarity with Israel, giving it a green light to demolish the Gaza Strip over the heads of its residents(?) When the predictable Israeli response begins, these rats will hide in their holes, and we will see only innocent women and children dealing with the death and destruction. This attack will not be met with silence. Abusing a woman's corpse is not (part) of Muslims’ morality, even when it comes to your enemy.”

X user Mansour al-Malik wrote about the clip in a similar tone: “Stripping a female Israeli soldier down to her undergarments in this way is unislamic and inhuman. This video shouts of ‘Allah Akbar’ will spread all over the world. This is the greatest gift we could give to the enemies of Islam and Muslims.”

The woman in question was later identified as a German-Israeli named Shani Louk, who was taken hostage from a music festival. Her mother Ricarda Louk, in a video following the attacks, claimed the 30 year old is alive.

Saudi researcher and author Turki al-Raj'an responded to the clip this way: “Is this the humanity of the religion! This absolutely is not the humanity of the religion. How great is the difference between you and the Prophet Muhammad’s decree about war 'Do not cut down trees, do not kill woman, or child, or infant, or the elderly sheikh, or the infirm, do not defile bodies, do not kill excessively, do not destroy a place of worship, do not demolish a populated building, and even the camels and cattle shall be slaughtered only to be eaten.’”

Abd al-Hak al-Snaibi, a Moroccan researcher and security expert, agreed.

“I don’t understand what message Hamas is trying to convey by arresting an elderly woman, holding her, and harassing her?? I also do not understand how they deface the body of a dead soldier. Is this part of Islam?? I don't understand how it is possible for a Muslim to toy with the body of a naked young woman, abusing her before the eyes of the world?? I do not believe this is part of Islam's morality or the ethics of war,” he wrote on X.

Hate for Israel

Not all Arabs were critical of Hamas. Following a surge in antisemitism online, the reaction of other Muslims to the massacre was to show the world how much they oppose the Jewish state.

Terror propaganda — with the use of violent videos and graphic images of the massacre — has flooded social media following the attacks.

X said this week that it is removing newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts “to try and prevent terrorist content from being distributed online.”

Nonetheless, many used their keyboards or took the streets to chant slogans such as, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” In fact, among many Muslims on the pro-Palestinian side, the attacks were a cause for celebration.

On Aug. 31, Middle East Media Research Institute founder and director Yigal Carmon, a former security advisor to a series of Israeli prime ministers, warned a war could break out in the Gaza Strip in late summer or early fall. That memo fell on deaf ears, and Israel’s vaunted security establishment was distracted by events in the West Bank and misled by Hamas’ carefully orchestrated campaign to lull the Israel Defense Forces into acquiescence.

While MEMRI documented Arab voices criticizing Hamas, the Washington, D.C.-based Al-Monitor noted that Arab support for the Palestinian cause grew in the hours and days after the surprise assault. Very few questioned Hamas violating the Geneva Conventions, international laws that establish legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war.

Agence France-Presse reported that there was a groundswell of solidarity for the Palestinian as cause for the entire Arab world to take up. In fact, from Ramallah to Beirut, Amman to Damascus and in cities such as Baghdad and Cairo, people distributed candy and danced in support of Hamas’ “resistance” to Israel.

“My entire life, I have seen Israel kill us, confiscate our lands and arrest our children," said Farah al-Saadi, a 52-year-old coffee vendor from Ramallah, the provisional capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“I was pleased by what Hamas did,” said al-Saadi, whose son is in Israeli detention, adding however that he feared the scale of Israeli retaliation.

On Tuesday, scores of people took to the streets of Ramallah to rally in support of Hamas. The same day, more than 4,000 people rallied in the Jordanian capital Amman shouting, “Go Hamas" and "From Gaza came the voice, revolution, revolution until death.”

Hours after the shock attack, Palestinian supporters distributed candies in Beirut and across Lebanon. Residents in the port city of Sidon, situated in southern Lebanon, set off fireworks. Loudspeakers belonging to mosques blared chants praising “Palestinian resistance fighters who are writing the most wonderful, heroic epic.”

A rally was held at the American University of Beirut, where 18-year-old Palestinian student Reem Sobh said, “We are unable to carry weapons, but at least, we are able to support them.”

On social media, meanwhile, users flooded X with expressions of support for Hamas, including with the hashtag #PalestineIsMyCause that was trending. Other topics, such as Israel-Hamas, were also trending on X all week.

On Instagram, Lebanese comedian Shaden Fakih explained why there was such a wave of support.

“What do you expect from Palestinians? To get killed every day and not do anything about it … to die silently?" she asked in a video.

“They will carry arms and fight back. This is their right," she added, noting that she “can be against Hamas and still support any armed resistance against the oppressor, against (Israeli) apartheid.”

Even Arab Gulf states joined the wave of solidarity despite the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020. The two countries released statements that were relatively sympathetic to Israel and condemned the deaths of Israeli civilians — but the popular mood told a different story.

Expressions of solidarity with Palestinians also filled X in the United Arab Emirates, where prominent analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla took to X and condemned Israel's retaliation on the people living in Gaza as a “campaign of genocide.”

Gil Zohar was born in Toronto and moved to Jerusalem in 1982. He is a journalist writing for The Jerusalem Post, Segula magazine and other publications. He’s also a professional tour guide who likes to weave together the Holy Land’s multiple narratives.