A nation and a movement each wrote down what they are. One declared itself with an offer of peace and equal rights for all. One declared itself with a call to kill. Read them side by side.
You do not need an interpreter for either of these. Israel's Declaration of the Establishment of the State and the Hamas Covenant are both short, public, and easy to read in full. Each says, in its founders' own words, how it sees its neighbours, its minorities, and the Jews.
Here they are on the same four questions. The quotes are verbatim; both documents are linked at the foot of the page so you can check every word in context.
Tel Aviv, 14 May 1948 · adopted by the People's Council
Gaza, 18 August 1988 · the movement's founding charter
The honest objection, answered honestly. In May 2017 Hamas released a new “Document of General Principles and Policies.” Written for a Western audience, it drops the open antisemitism, recasts the fight as against “Zionists” rather than “Jews,” and accepts a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines as a national consensus, without recognising Israel.
But it did one thing it was careful never to do: it did not replace or annul the 1988 Covenant. Hamas's own leaders said so. Khaled Mashal, presenting the document, confirmed it complements rather than cancels the original. The old charter, with Article 7 and the Protocols, was never rescinded.
And then there is the evidence that needs no parsing. On 7 October 2023, Hamas did not act out the 2017 public-relations document. It acted out the 1988 one. Which text governs was answered that morning.