Hamas leader Khaled Mashal rejected the two-state solution in a recently aired interview, emphasizing that the terrorist group’s goal of replacing Israel with a Palestinian state was more attainable after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

Mashal made the comments during a three-part discussion with Kuwaiti podcaster Amar Taki posted in the second week of January. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published a translated excerpt.

The Hamas leader, who was living in Qatar as of last year, said that “we have nothing to do with the two-state solution. We reject this notion because it means that you would get a promise for a [Palestinian] state, yet you are required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state, which is the Zionist entity.”

He continued: “This is unacceptable. We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation, and to have our independence and our state. [Israel] is my enemy. It is not my concern.”

Mashal suggested that Oct. 7 was a pivotal moment for the movement to replace Israel with a Palestinian state and remarked on the pro-Hamas demonstrations worldwide that took place after the massacre, in which hordes of heavily armed gunmen murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more and took 240 hostages back to Gaza.

“I believe that the dream and the hope for Palestine from the River to the Sea and from the north to the south has been renewed. This has also become a slogan chanted in the U.S. and in Western capital cities, by the American and Western public,” he said.

“Palestine is free from the River to the Sea—that’s the slogan of the American students and the [students] in European capital cities.

“The Palestinian consensus—or almost a consensus—is that we will not give up on our right to Palestine in its entirety, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea and from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat or the Gulf of Aqaba,” he continued.

Oct. 7 “has turned the idea of liberating Palestine from the River to the Sea into a realistic idea that has already begun. It is not something [merely] to be expected or hoped for. It is part of the plan, part of the agenda, and we are standing on its threshold, Allah willing.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, posted the MEMRI video of the interview to his account, urging those calling for a ceasefire to listen to Mashal’s words.

“A ceasefire ensures Hamas’ continued rule in Gaza, and this destroys any possibility for a solution to the conflict. Hamas is stating this loud and clear! So if you truly want a solution—you must first support the eradication of Hamas. Stop hiding behind empty words and slogans!”

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