The rules of Islam as a religion are stringent and the religious authorities press its followers to ‘respect’ those. Further, anybody who does not ‘respect’ and follow the said rules are said to be living a sinful life and is punished by the Islamic authorities accordingly, which most of the time constitutes death.
Women especially in the religion of Islam are mandatorily made to follow the restrictions imposed by the Islamic law. They are made to wear a burqa, kept away from education, asked not to use beauty products, made to cater to the orders of their respective husbands who are themselves allowed to have four wives at a time, etc. And any woman who does not follow these basic restrictions is supposed to be living a sinful life.
If we remember, recently, Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman was brutally assaulted by the police for wearing an ‘improper hijab’. She was detained by the Tehran Police in September 2022 under the guise of giving her a ‘morality re-education class’ and was kept in a detention center. At the center, the woman was beaten by the police for not following the rules of Islam. The incident resulted in the death of the woman after which massive protests erupted across the world demanding justice for the deceased.
Similarly, restrictions are also imposed upon men (including non-Muslims) living in Islamic countries or those who tend to follow Islam as their religion.
In fact, the plight of non-Muslims at the hands of Islam and its adherents is a tale nightmares are made of. In Islam, there are only two ways a non-Muslim’s fate could play out – he either converts to Islam or is to be killed by the adherents of Islam.
One such case is said to have happened in the year 2011, which is at present being widely talked about on social media viz murder of an Italian writer, journalist, and activist, Vittorio Arrigoni in Palestine who had entered Palestine to free the country from Isreal. The activist was murdered by the Islamists in Palestine who looked at the Italian activist as an infidel.
İtalyan yazar, pasifist ve aktivist Vittorio Arrigoni, Filistinlilere destek vermek için Gazze'ye taşındı, ardından kendisini kafir olarak gören Müslümanlar tarafından kaçırılıp öldürüldü! https://t.co/V7Uz5eVnsr
— Murad Çobanoğlu (@muradcobanoglu) February 29, 2024
The term infidel is used to refer to somebody who does not believe in what the state considers to be the true religion. In this case, the murderers claimed that the murdered activist attempted to ‘spread corruption’ in the country. He smoked, wore clothes considered ‘unfavorable’ by the state, and furthered a lifestyle varied from what the state considered ideal.
The brutal story dates back to the year 2008 when the isolation between Palestine and Israel was deepening and it was unclear how the Hamas terrorist organization would enforce its authority. Italian human rights campaigner Vittorio Arrigoni landed in the coastal zone at that time. As it became evident that Arrigoni was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause against Israel, the Hamas leadership welcomed him and capitalized on his presence in the strip to demonstrate their legitimacy.
In a public event, the then-Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh bestowed honorary Palestinian citizenship on Arrigoni as a gesture of gratefulness. A special friendship evolved between Gazans and Arrigoni, or ‘Vik’ as they affectionately referred to him. Arrigoni’s support at this ‘tough’ time was widely felt in Gaza, and it is crucial to understand the significance of the dramatic events that occurred a few years later.
Arrigoni gradually rose to prominence as a popular personality in Gaza. Huda Elian of the Palestinian Democratic Union (PDU) hailed him in grandiose terms: “Vittorio has been a hero here in Gaza, a hero defying the Israeli occupation.”
Arrigoni failed to evoke the same positive responses from all Gazans. His liberal lifestyle irritated many Muslims. Arrigoni, a non-Muslim, did not observe Islamic conventions regarding clothes, smoking, drinking, and social connections. To religious conservatives, Arrigoni lived an immoral lifestyle. In essence, whether Vittorio supported the cause of Palestine or not, he remained an infidel – a Kafir.
The arrest of a Jordanian cleric leading to the murder of the Italian activist
A few months before Arrigoni’s kidnapping, Islamist Sheikh Hisham al-Saidani, the leader of the Salafi-Jihadi organization Tawhid wal-Jihad, was detained by Hamas. Saidani, a Palestinian who had previously been active in Jordan, later led the group Tawhid wal-Jihad from his house in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Tawhid wal-Jihad was one of Gaza’s lesser Salafi-Jihadi factions, but it had a special place in the Salafi-Jihadi community because it was the only group to have successfully killed an Israeli soldier thus far.
The Jihadi group was particularly well respected since Saidani had been openly sponsored by Jordanian extremist cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, who frequently issued harsh fatwas against Hamas. In addition to openly backing him, Maqdisi named Saidani to the Sharia committee of his website, ‘Minbar minal-Tawhid wal-Jihad’. The Sharia committee was a group of people who answered queries from the internet community, such as how to issue fatwas. Saidani was additionally highly critical of the Hamas government.
From the outside, it appeared that Saidani’s voice and Tawhid wal-Jihad’s violent operations did little harm to the Hamas authority. However, the situation was interpreted differently within the government. The group’s attack on an Israeli military jeep, which killed the driver, came just days after Hamas reached a tenuous truce agreement with Israel following the 2008-2009 war.
Combined with the group’s countless rockets fired at Israel and Saidani’s ever harsher fatwas on the internet, it had long since started implementing what Hamas could not at the time, even if it wanted to. Tawhid wal-Jihad’s acts were frequently followed by a statement claiming responsibility and condemning the Hamas administration for being lenient towards Israel and ‘deviating from the genuine path of Islam’. By doing so, Saidani was attacking Hamas’ two defining qualities – Islam and Jihad – and so was considered to be a serious threat.
‘Student’ traveling to Gaza to free the Jordanian cleric
Saidani was arrested in early March 2011, sparking outrage among the local Salafi-Jihadi community, who demanded his release. Hirdani Abdel Rahman al-Breizat, a young Jordanian in his twenties, was a disciple of Saidani and a former pupil of his from Amman. Later that month, Breizat resolved to travel to Gaza, determined to find a method to liberate his former teacher.
Upon his arrival, Breizat met with members of Tawhid wal-Jihad, whom he knew through the internet, to discuss how they could secure Saidani’s release. Two of these people also had concurrent memberships in Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and one served as a firefighter for the Gaza Civil Defence.
Some of them appeared to have known Arrigoni personally, as they frequented the same gym in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa area. It is worth noting that this small group’s social networks simultaneously included the inner core of Hamas’ military, the Civil Defence troops, the international community, and the local Salafi-Jihadi milieu.
Following their discussions, the group determined that the best leverage for freeing Saidani would be to utilize a by-then-well-known approach in Gaza: kidnapping a foreigner. According to the men’s later admissions in court, the original objective was to capture Arrigoni to teach him a lesson rather than murder him, and then release him once Hamas agreed to their demands. However, the operation did not go exactly as planned.
Operation backfired
On April 13, 2011, the group commenced its operations. They waited for Arrigoni outside his house and pushed him into a waiting car, which drove them to an unoccupied house in the Mareh Amer region. The day after, a short clip was broadcast on YouTube seeking Saidani’s release. The video included disparaging statements about the Hamas administration’s ‘un-Islamic’ rule and a threat to kill Arrigoni if the government did not satisfy the group’s 30-hour deadline. It was a clear provocation to Hamas and a challenge to its authority.
In various ways, Arrigoni’s kidnapping harmed Hamas’ public image. It dented Hamas’ attempt to prove its legitimacy, even for optics. However, numerous newspapers throughout the world reported that on 14th-15th April 2011, the pre-Hamas chaotic security situation in Gaza persisted.
On 14th April, the government’s security agents located the residence in the Mareh Amer area where Arrigoni was detained. When they entered the residence, Breizat, and his associates had fled, and Arrigoni’s body was discovered tied to a chair and strangled.
The following weekend, Gaza City’s streets were crowded with regular citizens protesting the murderous act. Several Hamas leaders and government officials took part in these demonstrations, while it is demonstrably true that Hamas is equally brutal in dealing with Kafirs.
The case was classified as a ‘military matter’
The gang hid from Hamas in the Nusseirat refugee camp for many days before being discovered on the 19th of April that year. In an attempt to encourage the kidnappers to surrender, the authorities dispatched the imprisoned Saidani to the scene to mediate the surrender.
Apart from summoning Saidani to speak with the kidnappers, the Association of Islamic Scholars in Gaza issued a fatwa declaring Arrigoni’s kidnapping a crime against Islam, citing Quranic verses and examples from Prophet Muhammad’s life.
The case was classified as a military matter since three of the four defendants were members of the defense forces, either civil or military. According to Hamas, the military categorization of the case also related to the larger threat to ‘homeland security’ that their acts had posed.
The four defendants were charged with murder and kidnapping, except one, who was accused simply as an accessory. The prosecutor wanted the death penalty for murder and two years in prison for accessory to murder. In the early stages of the investigation, a fifth person was identified as a suspect. However, when the case went to court, this man was merely summoned as a witness.
He was reportedly a close relative of a key Hamas official and deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament. During the military court hearings, all of the defendants were claimed to have been tormented while in captivity. The Majdal Military Court ultimately sentenced two of the defendants to life imprisonment, one to ten years imprisonment, and one to one year imprisonment for housing fugitives.
Conclusion
This incident reflects the duality of the terrorist organization Hamas which opted to be flexible when it came to delivering justice to the deceased Italian activist. Hamas chose mediation over the strictest punishment for the accused, 2-3 of whom were part of the defense forces, either civil or military. Though it condemned the murderous act, the incident very well shows how the Islamists, even beyond Hamas have been treating foreigners or the non-Muslims in the state ruled by ‘terrorists’.
It also shows that for Islamists, even if an individual supports their territorial demands driven by Jihad, an infidel or a kafir will remain one for those who follow Islam. Arrigoni supported the Palestine cause, which by all historical standards is not legitimate. He also supported the war that Palestine had foisted on Israel. However, at the end of it, for the Palestinian people, he remained an infidel who was dispensable and deserved to be put to death. This premise was confirmed by Itali being called an infidel state after the activist’s murder.
Recently, on 7th October 2023, the Hamas terrorist organization launched a deadly attack on Israel. Many of the Israeli women including some of the foreign women were stripped naked by the terrorist on the streets, raped, and then brutally killed. Hamas also fired over 5,000 rockets into Israel, causing massive casualties and damage. They also raised the slogans of Allah-hu-Akhbar, videos of which had massively gone viral over the internet.
Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip launched massive rocket barrages at southern and central Israel prompting it to declare a ‘state of war’. As per some reports, the terrorists held several Israelis hostage and killed several civilians in indiscriminate firing.
