Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan employed a novel defense against accusations of anti-Semitism in an interview with CNN on Monday evening.
"I have Jewish friends," Hamdan declared.
Hamdan made the argument after host Wolf Blitzer confronted him about inflammatory comments he allegedly made about Jews during Hamas' ongoing battles with the Israeli government.
"We will resist occupation. And they can't hide [by] being Jews. I have Jewish friends who are supporting Palestinian rights," Hamdan replied, according to video posted by Mediaite. "They are supporting Palestinian rights and they are our friends."
Hamdan also made a theological point about how Muslims believe in some of the same prophets as Christians and Jews.
"We don't have a problem with the Jews as they are Jewish people. In fact, we believe in Moses. We believe in Jesus. We believe in Mohammed. We respect all three of them the same," he said.