Jaysh al-Ummah Statement on Gaza: Overview and Analysis

Jihadists in Gaza on the Ongoing Battle

Since the 7 October massacre in which Hamas and other militants killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, it has become common to see Hamas described as a ‘jihadist’ group. While this label ostensibly makes sense in that Hamas sees its fight against Israel as a form of jihad and ‘Islamic resistance,’ and some of the group’s officials have spoken about a future in which the Muslim world is united under a caliphate, applying the label to Hamas can obscure differences between Hamas and groups that are more conventionally labelled as jihadist: in particular, the ‘Salafi-jihadist’ groups, of which the most familiar are the Islamic State and al-Qa‘ida . For example, Hamas’ use of the Palestinian national flag is something that would be rejected by jihadists, who believe that national flags represent identities that deviate from the necessity of unifying Muslims as one political and religious community (that unity being embodied in a future Caliphate).

Moreover, Hamas maintains ties with Iran and refrains from declaring existing governments of Muslim-majority countries to be ‘apostate’ systems that must be violently overthrown. Hamas’ ties to Iran are particularly unacceptable to the Islamic State (which declares Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood from which it derives, to be ‘apostates’), and Hamas’ general approach to existing governments in the Muslim world is to be contrasted with jihadists around the world who wage insurgent campaigns against Muslim governments in places such as the Sahel and Somalia on the basis of establishing ‘proper’ Islamic governments in those lands through violent revolution, and then ultimately uniting the Muslim world through those newly established governments.

In Gaza, there are groups that can be labelled as jihadist in the more conventional way. Two of the most notable ones now are Jaysh al-Ummah (the subject of this post) and Jaysh al-Islam. I conducted interviews with both of these groups in 2019: Jaysh al-Ummah being supportive of al-Qa‘ida, while Jaysh al-Islam supports the Islamic State. Both of these groups have also experienced tensions with Hamas (though Jaysh al-Islam is more at odds with Hamas than Jaysh al-Ummah is), and have been relatively quiet since 7 October. Compared to Hamas, these forces are marginal, and they are likely to remain marginal even if Israel manages to dismantle Hamas’ administrative control of Gaza.

Jaysh al-Ummah has now released a statement about the ‘al-Aqsa Flood’ operation launched by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent campaign in Gaza. The statement illustrates that the group participated as a minor faction in the original 7 October massacre and is fighting against the Israeli forces in Gaza (confirming what the group once told me in 2019 about it being permissible to wage jihad alongside Hamas despite its criticisms of the group’s governance of Gaza, since Hamas is not considered ‘apostate’ by Jaysh al-Ummah). Similarly like Hamas, the group endorses attacks by Palestinians against Israel, whether acting in groups or alone.

But the statement also shows jihadist divergences with Hamas. Most notably, the group specifically calls on Muslims around the world to do whatever they can to target the interests of Western countries for supporting Israel and fiercely denounces governments of Muslim countries such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (‘the statelet of the Hebrew conspiracies’) and Saudi Arabia (whose royal family are called ‘The Salul Family,’ a typical jihadist designation for them because of their ties with the West). The statement indeed follows typical jihadist rhetoric in portraying the current Muslim governments as illegitimate entities to be overthrown.

Below is the statement fully translated, plus a clarification from the group’s al-Raya Media about its silence over the past two months. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.