Since its foundation in 1987, Hamas has invoked classical European anti-Semitism merged with elements from Islam to mobilize Palestinians against Israel. The Hamas charter invokes Jewish control of the media and blames Jews for wars throughout the world.

Last month, Hamas marked the fifth anniversary of Israel's assassination of is founder, Ahmed Yassin, with a play that portrays Jews as blood drinkers. Details are provided in a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli research organization based in Herzliya.

Al-Aqsa television broadcast the play, the report said, which aired April 3. Days earlier, veteran Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar gave a speech in Damascus in which he asked rhetorically why Jews have been massacred throughout history. Their behavior provokes others to kill them, he said. Israel's recent war on Hamas in Gaza was an example.

Three days after airing al-Zahar's speech, al-Aqsa TV showed the play called "The House of Sheikh Yassin", which was presented at the Islamic University in Gaza City. In the play, a man dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew preaches hatred and fear of Arabs to his son, saying:

"We Jews hate Muslims. We like to kill Muslims. We Jews drink the blood of Muslims and Arabs." He then turns to the audience, asking: "Are you Arabs? Are you Muslims? I hate you. I hate you for the sake of [our] God's will." The father adds: "We have to conspire against Muslims to satisfy God. We will destroy the Arabs and the Muslims."

The report notes that the play ended with a well-known Hamas song, "A Hamas fighter does not fear death." The full report IICC is available here.