HAMAS fighters on drugs when committing atrocities

When elements of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Arabic Harakah al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah, abbreviated HAMAS) started the Fourth Arab-Israeli War with their atrocious acts, they were taking a stimulant to suppress any revulsion they might have felt, as well as their food appetites and fatigue symptoms, WorldNetDaily and The Jerusalem Post have learned.

HAMAS controls its soldiers with drugs

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has recovered the bodies of many HAMAS operatives – unconventional soldiers – who fell in battle. According to the Post, these soldiers carried pills containing fenethylline, a stimulant, in their pockets. Fenethylline, which goes under the trade names Captagon®, Biocapton®, and Fitton®, is a psychoactive member of the amphetamine family. The body breaks it down into amphetamine and theophylline. It has been illegal in the United States since 1981 and in most other countries since 1986. But according to Al-Jazeera, the Syrians have been mass-producing it and trafficking it to other Arab lands. Elements of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) used it often, and it has become a drug of choice in Gaza.

Fenethylline produces euphoria and cancels out any sense of revulsion. It also suppresses the appetite – like amphetamine-analog “diet pills” – and allows for long waking times. A soldier under its influence would cheerfully carry out any order he received, no matter how atrocious. Because its manufacture is so easy, fenethylline is a cheap high – “cocaine for the poor.”

HAMAS stands accused of the worst atrocities since the Holocaust, and its sympathizers generally prefer to deny the atrocities. (Although some have actually defended them, though whether they fully comprehend what they are defending, is far from clear.) The finding of fenethylline on the persons of HAMAS soldiers constitutes further evidence that:

1. These unconventional soldiers did commit the atrocities, and that:
2. Their high command, as it were, ordered them.

Historical precedent

The use of drugs to control and motivate Muslim murderers of “infidels” (i.e., anybody else) has historical precedent. During the Crusades, the Iranian Hassan-i Sabbah founded the Order of the Hashshāshīyīn – the Assassins. The original Arabic word literally means “persons addicted to hashish,” as Marco Polo recorded. Thus the Assassins became known for committing secret murder while under the influence of hashish. That was likely the first real-life instance of a nation-state controlling its military – or a terrorist group controlling its operatives – with drugs.

ISIS used the present drug, fenethylline, for a twofold purpose. It turned their operatives into conscienceless killing machines. And it brought vast profits through sales to the addicted. HAMAS would appear to be making the first use of fenethylline today.