What purposes are behind the claim Hamas proposes to exterminate the Jews?

At the suggestion of Sevastapol, I thought I’d double-check my beliefs about Hamas’ goals and see if they are reasonable. I’ll state certain assumptions I have about Hamas and invite challenge in the interest of fighting my own ignorance on the subject. Whenever possible, I’d like cited references to official statements by Hamas (or other relevant parties) that either tend to support my assumptions or tend to disprove them. I’d like to make perfectly clear that all assumptions listed below are subject to challenge and I will not use emotional appeals to defend any of them, nor accuse challengers of using emotional appeals if they come to the thread with facts/quotes/cites.

Assumptions regarding Hamas’ plan for a Greater Palestine
[ul][li]Hamas wishes to unify all territory currently occupied by Israel, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the West Bank as a single state called, for the purposes of this discussion, “Greater Palestine”[/li][li]The governing system of Greater Palestine will be, at least at first, modeled on the parliamentary Knesset, including proportional voting and elected representatives and a largely ceremonial head of state (as is Israel’s President, currently). I make this assumption on the idea that some kind of attempt at a smooth transition will be made.[/li][li]All Palestinian refugees from the various wars now camped or housed or otherwise living in Syria, Egypt and Jordan, as well as their descendants, are offered the right of return.[/ul][/li]
Assumptions regarding Hamas’ behaviour after such a unification
[ul][li]Hamas itself may undergo radical change as a result of getting what it wants, as described above. I’m assuming the leadership will remain politically active.[/li][li]Hamas has stated its desire for Greater Palestine to be an official Muslim state[/li][li]Hamas has stated its desire in various ways for Israel to be “destroyed” or “obliterated” or “driven into the sea”. I’ve heard frequently that such rhetoric is for “internal purposes only”, i.e. to whip up the Muslim population. I don’t know how much of this attitude will persist in Greater Palestine. I’m assuming at least some of it.[/li][li]If the Muslim population ever exceeds the Jewish population (I’m assuming this is quite likely given a full right of return and the relative birth rates of the two cultures), votes will start to favour Muslim goals over Jewish ones. Constitutional protections for minority rights will be gradually stripped away. I base this assumptions on the actions of Muslim governments elsewhere. Political violence and assassination will become increasingly common. If the Jews don’t actively resist (I think they will, but I’m assuming Hamas expects them to be passive), Greater Palestine will eventually become an officially Muslim state, with Jews possessing few protections. They’ll become subject to increasing official and unofficial harassment and left with two choices - emigrate or rebel.[/ul][/li]
My question is: am I completely off-base here? Do any of the above assumptions demonstrate that I’ve been suckered somehow, by somebody? If so, to what end?

A factual and truthful statement of the facts.
It’s a good purpose to have, I think.

I suppose that there are a number of ways that we could slice that. The easiest and most visceral sort of cite, of course, is to check out videos of Hamas, in their own words.
Stuff like this off of Hamas TV.

There are, also, other factors of Hamas’ ideology which would lead to a war of ethnic cleansing, at best, which would probably end up being, for all practical purposes, genocide.

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](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/world/middleeast/01hamas.html)
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](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/world/middleeast/01hamas.html)

There are other quotes out there, of course. I’m not going to provide an exhaustive list. I will, however, cite a bit from their charter

And of course we can take note that Hamas clearly can delineate between Israel, Jews and Judaism. So when they say their war is with Jews, they mean Jews.

The Golan is more of a Syrian issue. But yes, Hamas has stated numerous time that they consider all of Israel to be Palestine, and to be ‘liberated’. Cites upon request.

Well, that’s the problem. As the vast majority of Israelis show no signs of wishing to relinquish sovereignty and both Hamas and the PA have a record and current habit of spreading incitement to violence, it’s hard to imagine any “Great Palestine” forming through anything but violence. A two state solution, in time, that leads to a federation? Maybe.

I’m sure that’s what they want, but it’s not going to happen, because the Israelis would kick their ass just like they kicked the ass of their seven gigantic neighbors during the six-day war. Hamas and their friends are very effective against Jews dancing in nightclubs and eating at pizza parlors. Against actual armed men, they’re a joke just like Syria and Egypt and Jordan were a joke.

I don’t think so, except that (1) a decent percentage of the Palestinians are Christian; and (2) the Jewish population growth rate is a lot higher than it seems – if you look at things from a “Big O” perspective.

In any event, I doubt you’d end up with a situation like Zimbabwe where the minority is pressured into relinquishing power and then gets harassed out of the country.

Wikipedia - Palestinian Christians

From the same link, Gaza is a particularly exciting place for Christians to be:

On a brighter note, Christians, both Arab and non Arab, appear to be doing fine in Israel.

What that country needs, apparently, is more atheists.

A lot more atheists.

Hard to figure. Hamas is like the Klan. Anyone with a ski mask and a video camera and a ski mask can claim to be making Hamas policy. Add to the that the near-certainty that they are infiltrated all to heck by the Israelis and you get a very loose organization that is in constant discussion among itself as to what to do next.

…have two heads?

The summary in the OP sounds about right to me as well.

If and when the population tips in favor of Muslims… do you ever wonder if we gave nukes to Jews or to Israel?

Gave? I know Israel has nukes, but I thought they made them on their own.

Ok, fair point. We didn’t give. But the west helped them along… maybe naively, but helped nonetheless.

It would be ironic if Israel somehow ended up the first Muslim nuclear power in the ME.

I imagine that Israel would do the same thing that South Africa did.

I take it that you don’t consider Pakistan to be part of the Middle East?

It looks quite literally borderline, according to common uses of the term “Middle East”.

France