Hamas slammed a Sudanese official for even contemplating the normalization of ties with Israel.
The Hamas terror group issued a sharp condemnation of Mubarak al Fadil al Mahdi, Sudan’s minister of investment, who stated in a recent interview that “there is no problem normalizing relations with Israel.”
He justified such move by saying that “even Hamas is talking to Israel.”
Hamas called the statements “provocative and racist.”
“We, in Hamas, as well as the Palestinian people strongly condemn the provocative and racist statements” made by Al Fadil, Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We consider such statements to be alien to the values and principles of the Sudanese people who love and support Palestine and its resistance. We assure that such statements are unaccepted from the son of Al Mahdi family who is known for supporting resistance, Hamas stated, noting that Al Mahdi’s statements “are against the customs and the values of the Islamic and Arab nations; these values which represent the strategic depth of our people and our just cause,” the statement read.
In the interview, Fadil also said the Arab world has used the Palestinian issue for “domestic purposes” and they use it to “oppress their own peoples in the name of the struggle for Palestine.”
Hamas said that while they were “shocked to hear such offensive statements which reflect clear ignorance of the Palestinian cause,” they called upon “our fellow brothers in Sudan, their leadership, and national parties” to reject these statements “which contradict the honorable stands of Sudan towards Palestine and the legitimate rights of our people.”
Currently Israel does not have relations with Sudan, but the Jewish state established full ties with South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011.
Israel is also the only country that Sudanese citizens are barred from entering, while Sudan has had past ties with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Sudan is run by President Omar al-Bashir, who was indicted for war crimes in Darfur in 2009.
Nevertheless, there has been movement within Sudan for normalizing ties with Israel as part of an effort to get economic sanctions lifted by the United States.
In January 2016, Sudan’s foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said his country wouldn’t mind considering the possibility of normalizing ties with Israel, underlining that Sudan does not establish relations with one country at the expense of another.
