Senior Hamas Official Ali Baraka: We Have Been Secretly Planning The Invasion For Two Years; Russia Sympathizes With Us, Benefits From U.S. Embroilment In This War; Any Swap Deal Should Include Hamas Prisoners In Europe And The U.S.
https://www.memri.org/tv/senior-hamas-official-ali-baraka-prison
Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV that Hamas had been secretly planning the invasion of southern Israel for two years, even as it was making it seem like it was busy governing the Gaza Strip. He explained that this is the reason Hamas did not join the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in its previous round of fighting against Israel. He said that Hamas notified its allies in other Palestinian factions, in Hizbullah, in Iran, in Turkey, and in Russia only after the invasion started, and he stated that any prisoner exchange deal should involve Hamas prisoners held in the United States. Later in the interview, Baraka said that Hamas has a license from Russia to locally produce bullets for Kalashnikovs, that Russia sympathizes with Hamas, and that it is pleased with the war because it is easing American pressure on it with regard to the war in Ukraine.
Ali Baraka: "The zero hour was kept completely secret. A limited number of Hamas leaders knew it. The number of people who knew about the attack and its timing could be counted on one hand.
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"In the past couple of years, Hamas has adopted a 'rational' approach. It did not go into any war, and did not join the Islamic Jihad in its recent battle."
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Interviewer: "But all this was part of Hamas's strategy in preparing for this attack."
Baraka: "Of course. We made them think that Hamas was busy with governing Gaza, and that it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians [in Gaza], and has abandoned the resistance altogether.
"All the while, under the table, Hamas was preparing for this big attack.
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"The rockets of the resistance cover all of Palestine. Where would [Netanyahu] take [the Israelis who were attacked]? To Tel Aviv? We bombed Tel Aviv on the very first day of the attack. Does he want to take them to the Galilee? The northern front – with Lebanon – has opened today. The Galilee is no longer safe for the Zionist enemy. We can bomb the Galilee from inside occupied Palestine.
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"In order to keep the attack secret and successful, the different factions and our allies did not know the zero hour. But after half an hour, all the Palestinian resistance factions were contacted as were our allies in Hizbullah and Iran. The Turks were also notified, and a meeting was held with them three hours later, at 9 am. We updated anyone who contacted us. Even the Russians sent a message and enquired, and they were updated about the situation and about the goals of the war."
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Interviewer: "There are also Palestinian prisoners outside of Israel, in European countries."
Baraka: "There are also prisoners in the U.S. We want them. Of course. There are Hamas members sentenced for life in the U.S. We want them too. Of course. We demand that the U.S. free our sons from prisons. The U.S. conducts prisoner swaps. Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn't it conduct a prisoner swap with us? After all, it is participating in this war. Biden, the highest authority in the U.S., declared that he stands with Israel against Hamas and the Palestinian people. Therefore, he is a partner to this aggression, he must pay the price.
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"The Israelis are known to love life. We, on the other hand, sacrifice ourselves. We consider our dead to be martyrs. The thing any Palestinian desires the most is to be martyred for the sake of Allah, defending his land.
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"We have been preparing for this for two years. We have local factories for everything. We have rockets with ranges of 250 kms, 160 kms, 80 kms, 45 kms, and 10 kms.
"We have factories for mortars and their shells. We have factories for manufacturing B-7 and B-10 guns and their shells. We have factories for manufacturing Kalashnikov rifles and their bullets. We have a Russian license to produce Kalashnikov bullets in Gaza.
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"Our allies are those that support us with weapons and money. First and foremost it is Iran that is giving us money and weapons. There is also Hizbullah, and the Arab and Islamic people who are standing by us. There are countries that support us politically. Even Russia sympathizes with us. Even the Russians sent us messages yesterday morning. They sympathize with us. Russia is happy that America is getting embroiled in Palestine. It alleviates the pressure on the Russians in Ukraine. One war eases the pressure in another war. So we are not alone on the battlefield."
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