In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, wart-nosed Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar talks of Israel’s evil expansionist goals.
BLITZER: But what is your long-term goal? Is it Palestine in all of these areas, a historic Palestine, including pre-’67 Israel? Is that your long-term goal?AL-ZAHAR: We are here, I’m not speaking about the eventual events (ph). We are not speaking about future; we are speaking now. What is the real attitude of the people who are facing such problems nowadays? Nowadays, tell me Israel is accepting area ’67, accepting to give us Jerusalem, accepting to withdraw from the area occupied?Lastly, I think — and also at the same time, ask the Israeli about what is the meaning of the two blue lines in their flag. What is the meaning of land of Israel in their concept?BLITZER: The two blue lines on the Israeli flag that are on top of the Star of David, is that what you’re talking about?AL-ZAHAR: They are indicating — they are saying that frankly — it is indicating the River Nile and Euphrates (inaudible). On one coin, the gold shekel, there was — it was a map, including Palestine, Sinai, Syria, Jordan and part of Saudi Arabia. So they are not denying that. Ask them about this question…(CROSSTALK)BLITZER: Well, let’s just be clear about this. What you’re saying is that Israel wants to establish a state between the Nile and the Euphrates, is that what you’re saying?AL-ZAHAR: I’m sorry, I’m not understanding your question.BLITZER: Are you saying that Israel hopes to establish a state between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates River in Iraq?AL-ZAHAR: Yes. It is written in their Bibles. They are even — it is written in the Knesset. That is the meaning of the David Star that was said (ph) as the land of Israel. This is the historical land of Israel.
Actually, the blue stripes on the Israeli flag have nothing to do with the Nile and Euphrates, and everything to do with the connection between the Jewish people, the Jewish religion, and the land of Israel.
The blue stripes on the Zionist flag were inspired by the stripes on the tallit (prayer shawl). The tallit has two separate symbolic aspects: the light blue hue and the stripes. Some say that the stripes are meant to recall the one dyed strand of the ritual fringes (tzitzit). This leads to the significance of the hue itself. According to the Torah, one strand in the tzitzit should be light blue. To judge from references in the Talmud, it was a shade between green and blue. Many symbolic meanings were attributed to it. Rabbi Meir said that it recalls the color of the sky; Rabbi Judah ben Illai maintained that the color of Aaron’s staff was light blue, as were the Tablets of the Law, and this is why God commanded the Jews to include it on their prayer shawls: “As long as the people of Israel are looking at this tehelet, they are reminded of {the words} written on the tablets and observe them.” In other words, the sight of the color tehelet leads to observance of the commandments. White and tehelet, along with gold and purple, were the colors of the High Priest’s raiment (Exodus 28: 4,43) and of the curtains of the Tabernacle (Exodus 26). They were considered to be the colors of purity symbolizing the spirituality of the Jewish people.
I have included a picture of a blue -triped tallit so you can see the similarity between its stripes and the stripes on the flag of Israel.
You can read more about the concept here.
Despite this reality, the lie about the stripes representing the Israeli desire to take over all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates is nothing new.
The same can be said for Al-Zahar’s other claims that the desire to establish a state between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers is written in the Bible, written in the Knesset, and captured on the shekel (I assume he means the 10 agorot coins, since there is no such thing as a gold shekel, and the silver shekel has nothing that looks remotely like a map).
I point you all to this Daniel Pipe’s article on the subject, in which he rips apart these claims. As you can see, Al-Zahar is repeating the same lies that his predecessors – including Arafat – have made in the past.
For sure none of this will satisfy the anti-Israel crowd, so perhaps they should hear it from one of their own. These are the words of noted anti-Semite/anti-Zionist Israel Shahak:
The Arab World has shown itself so far quite incapable of a detailed and rational analysis of Israeli-Jewish society, and the Palestinians have been, on the average, no better than the rest. In such a situation, even those who are shouting about the dangers of Israeli expansionism (which are real enough) are doing this not because of factual and detailed knowledge, but because of belief in myth. A good example is the very persistent belief in the non-existent writing on the wall of the Knesset of the Biblical verse about the Nile and the Euphrates. Another example is the persistent, and completely false declarations, which were made by some of the most important Arab leaders, that the two blue stripes of the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the Euphrates, while in fact they are taken from the stripes of the Jewish praying shawl (Talit). The Israeli specialists assume that, on the whole, the Arabs will pay no attention to their serious discussions of the future, and the Lebanon war has proved them right. So why should they not continue with their old methods of persuading other Israelis?
